The Celestial Staff
by FlameFireheart
Summary: Lea Reclin has just given up her divine powers. After Lea decides that because she's given up her lineage she'd also give up the demigod life completely. The Fates, however, have a different plan in mind. Lea must collect the peices of the Celestial Staff that have been scattered across the country. If she succeeds the Great Stirring will finally end, but if she fails...
1. Chapter 1

1- Nico Crashes my Pie Party  
It was the last day of school when the gods finally hacked their way back into my life.  
I had returned to California after an elaborate Birthday/Welcome home/Yay! You didn't die! party at Camp. The Muse boys came back with me, Gavin agreeing it would be best for them to have an average life over the school year.  
I began to get used to being mortal, no freaky dreams, no monsters showing up during first dates, nothing out of the ordinary. I could tell the gods were checking up on my every once in a while. Like that one time we had a substitute teacher who knew too little about Biology and too much about Mythology, plus I don't think normal teachers wear brotanks. Also, I was actually pretty good at school without ADHD or dyslexia getting in my way, I had an A in first period English, and actually enjoyed reading. I got a ton of extra credit points during the Odyssey section, because of all the Mythology facts I knew. I was so good that my class Jeopardy team was named after me. I was also known for my great autobiographical 'creative writing' although they thought that stuff was all pretend. If only.  
I still sucked at Algebra. I don't think dyslexia was the cause of my misunderstanding of math over the past few years. But it was a good excuse.  
I was the best in my class at P.E. all of the girls hated me, the guys too. Some of them had manly respect for me and my speed. During the badminton unit I accidentally hit a birdie so hard at one of the opposite team members it gave him a purple welt for the next three weeks. I was known as "The Pink She-Hulk", which I didn't mind.  
At lunch I hung out with Gavin, Ryan, Austin and Jeremy on the football field and as it turns out all of them were the sons of Muses, so that's what they had decided to name their band. They were really good and played at every rally, with there indie rock style. They slipped a lot of myth references into their lyrics which kind of felt like an inside joke.  
I had began to grow out of the whole pink and purple thing. Slowly expanding through the rainbow, but still sticking to tank tops and jeans. Nor had I grown out of the ponytail thing, and only wore my hair down during special occasions.  
I loved freshman year.  
I didn't fit in at all, but no one did, so it was okay.  
I was happy and I didn't want to be disturbed.  
Luckily, the person who happened to interfere with my happiness was the right one.  
I was sitting in fourth period art class, talking with Clary, my friend who had more freckles than friends and she had a lot of friends.  
We were discussing various zombie apocalypse strategies and I was telling her about my "Costco" plan.  
This was my favorite class of the day, it was all listening to indie music at full volume, talking about video games with the really chill juniors, drawing and dancing. Because of the fact that it was the last day of school, the teacher Mrs. Pirken-Dos, who we all just called Kaila had brought in a ton of pies. Clary and I sat on the counter next to the windows talking through mouths full of whip cream and singing along with Tangled, which was playing in the background.  
As Clary went to go get another bottle of whip cream I looked out the window muttered the lyrics to "I See the Light."  
There was a flurry of ravens fleeing from their perches and then a knew I rustle.  
That was when Nico feel out of the pine tree.  
He landed heavily on the ground and I gasped, flinching with empathetic pain. He uncertainly got to his feet and looked around.  
I slammed my palms up against the glass of the window, hoping he'd notice me, but of course he didn't. He was too busy getting his vision straight. I'd been years, yet he still couldn't pin-point his shadow-travel landing location exactly. This had resulted in he and I falling into a lot of awkward situations such as a lake, some family's picnic, and one of the president's speeches (long story).  
I had to go get Nico before he got even more lost.  
I rushed up tot the front of the classroom and said to Kaila, who was grading assignments, (which mostly consisted of A's because after all, this was art class, if you try you pass) "Hey, can I go get some fresh air real quick?"  
"Yeah, sure," she replied, "Just don't ditch and go get Taco Bell," then she whispered, "Unless you bring something back for me."  
I laughed lightly and sped out the door.  
I met Nico out in the pavilion, the big open arena between the Arts building and the theater. My high school used to be a college so it was all done in beautiful Spanish style architecture. Annabeth loved coming to visit me.  
Unfortunately Nico wasn't the only one there, Matt De La Triot, was standing with his arm wrapped in fake friendship around a very surprised looking Nico. Nico looked at me, his eyes asking the question, 'Who is this guy and why is he touching me?'  
Matt De La Triot was one of my least favorite people at the school, a cliché boneheaded football player. Apparently he thought life was like the movies, because he was appalled when he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said no. He figured that the jock always gets the girl. He was so stunned and offended when I denied him he told all of his friends it was the other way around. I had been the one asking and him rejecting. I don't think anyone bought that.  
Matt was the epitome of a cliché jock; buzz cut brunette hair, bulky build, letterman jacket and basically he thought he was better than everyone else.  
So needless to say I didn't like Matt and I liked him even less when he pulled a gun on me.  
Or wait, was it a sword?  
The image flickered, changing back and forth from a handgun to a double edged sword.  
I blinked a few times, the image stopped flickering and stayed a sword.  
"What?" I asked, confused.  
"You like it?" he snarled, twirling it in his hand, "My dad gave it to me."  
"Yeah," I mocked, "It's lovely. You've got a great dad. It must be fun to be the son of a psychopath."  
For a second Matt looked surprised. I guessed he wasn't used to people being so casual about death threats.  
"I'll have you know my father is Menoetius, a titan, like those gods you know so much about from the books," he sneered.  
"Oh yeah," I said, "I met you dad last year. Locked him in an underworld prison cell. He wasn't exactly the brightest guy, was he? Like father like son. You take after him."  
Matt looked dumbfounded, he clearly had not anticipated that response. He expected me to be some regular chick that he could push around.  
He shoved Nico to the ground, marching up to me.  
I stood my ground and let him loom over me.  
"What do you mean?" he growled.  
"What?" I asked, mock offended, "You mean you don't know who I am? I'm Lea Reclin, I slay titans as a hobby. Doesn't your father tell you anything? Oh wait, he can't, he's locked up because of me."  
Matt thick face and neck flooded with color, I'm not sure if it was cause he was angry or embarrassed. Probably both.  
"All I know," he growled, "Is that they titans have one thing they want. A girl, undetectable, under the radar, the first daughter of the dream god. She's got a price on her head, a high price. Let me guess? That's you."  
"Must be," I shrugged, "Seems as if I'm quite the threat."  
Matt chuckled.  
"Not to me," he snarled, turning around as if he were about to walk away proudly "You don't even have a weapon."  
"Really?" I asked, smirking, reaching into by back pocket. I whipped out my sword, it unfolded it as I swung at Matt.  
Matt was just as quick as me, he turned and deflected the swipe.  
I was prepping for a tomahawk blow to his temple when he spotted the perfect opportunity.  
He swung his sword at my torso, what would have been the perfect clean cut thought my side and into my organs.  
In the last splits second before the blade touched me I thought, 'Well this is it. I'm going to die a freshman.'  
But then something strange happened the blade past right through me, like a hologram.  
"Wait, what?" I asked confused, then it clicked in my head, celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. I'm now a mortal.  
"Oh right," I said aloud, "Hah!" and then I slammed Matt in the forehead with the hilt of my sword.  
Matt attempted to shake the blurriness out of his head for a minute then came at me again.  
Using his immense strength he back me up against the art building wall.  
He had his bulkiness, muscles and weight going for him.  
I on the other hand was quick, agile and nimble.  
I quickly let go of my blade with one hand, elbowed him in the stomach, and then used the space and time to kick him in the face.  
My silver high top shoe collided with him pudgy nose.  
He stumbled backwards, I spun preparing for a full blade attack to the neck, but stopped half way through, I couldn't just behead one of my class mates, could I?  
I decided no and instead went for an around the world kick.  
He fell to the pavement, groaning.  
"Nice try," I said, spinning my sword in my hand victoriously, walking up to Nico, "Haven't lost it."  
Matt pushed himself to his feet, "You can't kill me, go ahead and hide behind your puny boyfriend. It's like you to be into the scene kids."  
"Who Nico?" I sputtered, "He's not my boyfriend. But you know what he is; The son of Hades, god of death."  
Nico smirked down at Matt, cracks began to open at Nico's feet , green mist swirling out of them. About five skeletons, crawled out from the ground.  
"Who's puny now?" asked Nico.  
At that moment the bell rung, it was time for lunch. Students came running out of the classrooms. All of them stopping as soon as they saw us.  
To them it was three freshman, two guns, and five skeletons. I had a feeling this would make the papers. A few people whipped out their cellphones and began to take video. Clary pushed her way to the front of the crowd, and her mouth dropped open.  
I grinned at her and said, "Told you I'd make a good Apocalypse partner," and then for show I punched a skeleton in the face and Nico made it crumble.  
Then I grabbed Nico's hand and we jumped into the shadows.  
We landed more gracefully than usual, both of us on our feet.  
I converted my sword back into a disk and put it back into my pocket.  
We appeared to be at In and Out burger, a very frightened cashier stared at us.  
I walked up to him and said "Two double cheeseburgers please, a small vanilla milkshake, and…" I looked over at Nico, "A diet coke," then handed the dumbfounded acne-ridden twenty year old a wad of cash.  
I slid into a booth, curling and uncurling the receipt, Nico sat down across from me.  
"So," he began, "still not your boyfriend," he said it so quietly I almost didn't hear him.  
I kicked him under the table, "You haven't taken me out on a date yet."  
He chuckled silently, suddenly very nervous, "What did you think was crashing Obama's debt ceiling conference was?"  
We both laughed, the situation was lightly awkward, neither of us sure if we really wanted to be boyfriend/girlfriend.  
There was a along silence, our number was called and we both got our food and ate without talking.  
When we were finished Nico looked up at me and said, "I'm worried Lea," he sighed, "That guy said your wanted by the titans. That's not good."  
"I know," I agreed, "but it's Matt who said that, half of the things that come out of his mouth are lies."  
We both knew that this time Matt had been speaking the truth.  
"Back when Kronos was rising, Percy came close too death so many times," said Nico, "And that was when it was only one titans after him. You've got at least seven out for your blood."  
"But why do they want me?" I asked.  
"Because you're the only one who can stop them," he replied.  
"Why does everyone say that?" I groaned.  
"Because it's true," said Nico.  
I slouched in the booth, grumbling loudly as final argument.  
"I think it's time we visited Olympus," proposed Nico.  
"Agreed," I said.  
"Agreed," said a voice from behind me.  
I whipped around to see a beautiful blonde guy in his mid-twenties, grinning at me.  
"Apollo?" I asked.  
"No time to stay and chat," he replied, "Zeus is waiting."  
He snapped his fingers and there was a bright flash of light.  
When my eyes adjusted I recognized where we were.  
I sat on the floor of the Olympus Throne Room, once again.  
Zeus glared down at me and then he announced his voice booming through the room, "The time has come, Lea Reclin, for you to end the Great Stirring."


	2. Chapter 2

2- Zeus Gives me a Time Machine  
I rolled my eyes, "Well get on with it," I grumbled, "No need to be so dramatic."  
Zeus shifted on his throne uncomfortably; he didn't like being called out.  
It was only he and I in the room at the moment. I had a feeling this meeting was pretty confidential.  
"A quest had been issued" he announced.  
"Yeah," I agreed sarcastically, "Eleven months ago."  
"But only now had the prophecy been spoken."  
Suddenly, thunder rumbled in side the room, clouds began to swirl. The churning purple and grey covering the sun. Immediately the room was shadow, going from glowing and beautiful to dark and ominous, within minutes.  
A Mirage Mirror swirled in front of me and pictures began to formulate.  
It showed Rachel, alone in her cave room painting.  
She was painting Olympus, everything looked fairly normal expect the backdrop, the sky was stuck at every point of the day, showing sunrise, day, sunset, and night. Some portions of the sky were clear, some cloudy others storming like crazy all at once.  
Just as Rachel dabbed a silhouette on the roof of the Empire State building she collapsed shaking on the ground.  
I gasped stepping forward, "she's having a seizure. We have to help her!"  
"This is in the past," assured Zeus, "she's fine now."  
Green mist poured from Rachel's mouth, not the usual tendril but gallons worth of smoke. More than a normal human body could hold. The whole room was illuminated with green light. Rachel snapped her head around to look directly at me. Her eyes shot open showing a terrifying glowing green.  
Then the voice began to echo and then prophecy began:  
The Heroine chosen by the gods divine,  
Must create the stave before the stars align,  
Elders, dead, sea and sky,  
Can vanquish those who do not comply,  
Success shall determine the age,  
To open or seal the Titan's cage,  
One child on which the gods depend,  
Shall bring the stirring to an end.

The image disappeared, leaving a blank screen and the silhouette of creepy possessed Rachel in my head.  
I stood for a minute repeated the lines to myself.  
"So I have to find a stave?" I asked unsurely, I didn't even know what a stave was.  
"The pieces of one," corrected Zeus, "that have been scattered across the country."  
"Great," I mumbled, I was still too embarrassed to ask what exactly we were talking about.  
"At the end of the month, the Summer Solstice corresponds with the Orion stars aligning. You must have collected all four parts of the Celestial Staff by then," explained Zeus.  
Oh so that's what a stave is, a staff, I thought to myself.  
"I have a month?" I asked, "That'll be easy."  
"It is enough time," agreed Zeus, "but it is essential that on this quest you stay undetected."  
"Why?" I asked, "All of the other times I've been stalked the entire way yet still got through fine."  
"More than nine titans are now growing in power, each have their own minions looking for you. Combined they have an army twice all of Olympus' forces. They have Leto herself hunting you. If you are caught, within hours there will be hundreds of individuals on your trail."  
I gulped, "Alright then."  
"It is in your best interest to stay at Camp where you will not be disturbed and when you are prepared travel to your exact destination. Your friend Nico will aid you with this. You must do this at random times; make yourself as unpredictable as possible."  
"That sounds easy enough," I said.  
"Each time bring a different companion and send others to throw the sent off," continued Zeus.  
Different companions?  
How was I supposed to do that?  
It was always Nico, Percy and I.  
I can't imagine anyone else would want to go with me.  
I thought for a minute, telling myself the prophecy again.  
"It said that I'll bring the Stirring to an End," I exclaimed, "So that means I succeed!"  
"The Stirring will end whether you succeed or fail," replied Zeus, his voice growing deeper, "The Celestial Stave has the power to enhance any power beyond the stars and pinpoint any victim in the solar system. We hope it will enhance your powers and send the Titans to sleep for eternity."  
"But I don't have my powers anymore," I objected, confused.  
"True," agreed Zeus, "But that can be reset."  
"What?" I demanded, "I saw my divinity be ripped from my body in huge glowy ball of pink light!"  
"Also true," said Zeus calmly. He showed me something that had been in his hand the entire time. A little trinket on the end of a short silver looped chain. I stepped forward for a closer look, reaching up to touch it. Zeus dropped the necklace into the palm of my hand.  
"Your father said you needed a new necklace," said Zeus.  
I examined in closely, it was a tiny lead colored crown, just as heavy as lead too, with a single pink jewel.  
"What is it?" I asked in awe.  
"It is plated with Oneiron Silver, a material known for its magical force field, taken from your father's helm. The chain is also made from the same silver. Underneath the silver on the trinket is all that remains of Kronos' scythe, which harness' the ability to warp the wearer back in time if supplied with a physic feed."  
"What's a physic feed?" I interrupted.  
"It is an object that is directly connected to a certain person and time," explained Zeus, "The jewel, is a shard from the broken ruby on your sword. The perfect physic feed."  
"I'm really confused," I admitted.  
"If you were to press in that jewel," said Zeus, "Don't worry it takes a bit of pressure, it would come in contact with the piece of Kronos' scythe it would restore you to the exact state you were in when you lost the jewel. You would regain your powers but intern loose all of the memories you have created since you lost the jewel."  
"No way," I responded, "So it's like a personal time machine!"  
"Of sorts," replied Zeus.  
"The power can only last for so long," warned Zeus, "Do not activate it yet and whatever you do, do not loose the necklace. Wear it at all times."  
"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.  
"Only activate it when you have collected all four pieces of the staff," aid Zeus.  
"Where do I begin?" I asked eagerly.  
Something shimmered and appeared on the Mirage Mirror. It was a map of the United States. The image zoomed in on the far west side o f the map. The Hawaiian Islands. A glowing dot blinked just off the shore of Maui.  
"Let me guess?" I said, "Sea?"  
"Poseidon's Castle," announced Zeus.  
"I'm guessing I have to get one part of the staff from each of The Big Three?"  
"Indeed."  
"So who has the fourth piece?" I asked.  
"The Titans," growled Zeus.  
"Oh," I mutter, "If part of the staff is in the sky, couldn't you just give it to me now?"  
"No," he denied, "That will come last."  
It seemed more like he wanted to keep it to himself for a while.  
"Fine," I said, "I'll start with Poseidon."  
"Tell no one but your companion why, when or where you are going. Trust very few," declared Zeus ominously.  
I thought of the people I could trust for sure; Nico, Percy, Annabeth, and Henry. That was about it.  
"Are we done here?" I asked, noticing Zeus staring at me.  
"You are dismissed," he said.  
I turned and walked out of the Throne Room, my hands in my hoodies' pockets.  
From behind me I heard Zeus mutter, "I hope we chose right."  
I think he meant about me being the hero of the quest.  
In that case, they probably chose wrong.  
Nico was waiting in the Sitting Room, he was playing with the small metal figurine he always fiddled with and tried to hide from me.  
He stuffed it into his pocket as soon as he saw me.  
"Guess what?" I said.  
"What?" he replied automatically.  
"Nico," I said, "We're going to Hawaii."  
"When?" he asked.  
"Tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

3- Flaming Livestock Interrupt my First Date  
Nico looked at me with wide eyes. He clearly had not anticipated a surprise vacation.  
We began to walk down the familiar pathways, stopping to buy some Churros.  
Nico gnawed on his quietly. I managed to down the whole thing in four bites. I get hungry easily on Olympus; it always smelled so good that I couldn't not take part in the food.  
"Should we go back to camp and start packing?" asked Nico.  
"In a bit," I said, and then I nudged Nico with my shoulder, "But let's go on a date first."  
He grinned brightly then blushed and looked at the pathway.  
"Where should we go?" he asked.  
"Anywhere," I replied, "You're the one who wanted to in the first place. Let's just go take a walk."  
"Sounds great," he agreed quietly.  
"Central park?" I asked, "Mary Poppins Style?"  
Then I looked over the edge of the pathway suggestively.  
He grinned even wider, "I didn't want to take the elevator either."  
I found a good place, nice and shady and then I reached out and grabbed Nico's hand, pulling him closer so that we were shoulder to shoulder.  
We looked each other in the eyes and smiled.  
"Geronimo!" I said.  
"Allons-y!" he replied.  
Then we both stepped of the edge of the pathway.  
You see, over the past eleven months Nico and I had been practicing different methods of shadow-travel. I'd ridden hellhounds, fought a few shadow demon (tamed one or two) and once I even let go of Nico mid travel. This wasn't such a good idea because I ended up sitting on the bed of a random Ikea and it took a few hours for Nico to find me again. Eventually all of that had gotten boring and we began to experiment testing all of the cool ways we could enter and exit the shadow world. We'd done cool secret agent dive-rolls, the in action ninja kick, it was pretty awesome. We'd gotten to a point where he could pinpoint his location completely as long as there was a shadow, there was endless possibilities.  
My favorite move we had invented was what we called 'Mary Poppins Style' we'd jump into a shadow and come out somewhere else looking like a proper formal couple, arms locked, chins up and everything, as if we hadn't just stepped out of a tree.  
This was the most intense version I'd done so far, but I wasn't afraid as we fell from the sky. Nico was getting good at this and I trusted him enough to know he wouldn't ever do anything that could possibly put me in danger.  
We both fell, hundreds of feet. I screamed excitedly, it was like a crazy roller coaster or really intense, no parachute skydiving. There wasn't a moment where I doubted him. I looked over at Nico, the wind was whipping around his shiny black hair and his aviator's jacket flapped around him like wings. He gave me the biggest smile I've ever seen and I returned it with an exhilarated "Woo-hoo!"  
Just as we were around a hundred feet from the ground, I spotted someone. A woman in a formal business suit, she had her cellphone up to her ear but wasn't talking into it. She was too busy gaping at us, completely horrified. I don't think she'd ever seen two teenagers jump from the Empire State Building and look happy about it.  
I winked at her, gave a small wave and then tangled myself around Nico.  
We disappeared into a Newspaper box shadow, leaving the shocked business woman with a good reason to be late for work and the need for a few therapy sessions.  
While in 'The Void' I untangled myself from Nico, linked arms with him and prepped for landing.  
I saw the light and Nico and I both put our left foot forward and we dropped out of an oak trees shadow and walked on happily. After about ten feet of keeping our backs straight and walking in union we both gave up. We doubled over laughing so hard it hurt.  
"Did you see her face?" I sputtered.  
"She looked terrified," exclaimed Nico.  
I punched him playfully, "We should joke about it, and we probably scarred her for life."  
We both composed ourselves for a moment and when we caught eye contact again, we cracked up; falling to the grass.  
It really wasn't that funny; we were mostly jut high off the adrenaline and the fact that we'd just jumped off the Empire State building and landed cordially in central park.  
After while we stopped, mostly because passersby started to look at us like we were crazy.  
Nico got to his feet and then offered me a hand up, which wasn't really necessary but it was cute gesture.  
We meandered down the cement pathways, talking about anything that came to mind, at one point we had a very intense discussion about ducks. He was not a fan. I assured him it must've been geese he was talking about, but he still scowled at the fluffy little ducklings.  
We crossed over streams on fancy bridges, reenacted the Sound of Music (which I had made him watch two months ago and he'd watched it nineteen times since then) out of one of the fields, and saw how many sandwiches we could steal from picnickers without being noticed. Nico had an unfair advantage because he could pop in and out through shadows but I still held my own. We ended up with so many subs we had to put some back, not necessarily in the right basket.  
Eventually we came upon the Balto statue and I told Nico about the movies about Balto that I used to love as a kid.  
"But it's weird," I said, "I don't remember there being any bulls at any point in the story."  
I peered up at the two bronze bulls that stood on either side of the sled dog.  
"Strange creative symbolism?" suggested Nico.  
I shrugged, "Hmmph, guess so," and turned around.  
We began to walk out of the clearing.  
I was stopped by a strange clicking and whirring noise, like the sound of gears springing to life.  
I turned around hesitantly, hoping for the best.  
One of the bulls had smoke pouring out of its nostrils, its head clicked around to look at me. Something in his ruby red eyes made a whirring noise and I got the creepy feeling it was zooming in on my face. "Target acquired," said an automated voice from some where in the bull's chest. The other bull stamped its hoof.  
I looked at Nico for a second.  
"Run?" I asked.  
"Run," He confirmed.  
Nico and I took off in different directions. He disappeared into the shadows within seconds, leaving one bull very confused, sniffing at a tree trunk.  
I, on the other hand, did not have it so easy, I sprinted for a while dodging and weaving through the forest. I hoped that would slow the bull down. Not so much, he just barreled through the forest taking the trees down with him.  
A mental image of some very stunned gardeners appeared in my head. I felt a little bad.  
I felt a little worse when one of the bulls took out a memorial park bench.  
I was beginning to grow tired, my stamina was usually pretty good but I needed to save my energy for the fight.  
I scrambled up a tree, throwing myself into the tightly woven branches.  
I was safe, I thought, at least for a little while.  
Then the bull breathed fire.  
"Not so safe. Not so safe," I muttered to myself as flung my right leg over a branch trying to haul myself up.  
I scaled the tree getting higher into the thin branches, trying to escape the flames now circling the trunk.  
The bull began to ram the tree, attempting to knock me to the ground.  
He was a smart robot, I'd give him that.  
Luckily my grip was tight and I managed to jump to the next tree without him noticing.  
I really hoped I could do the cool Tarzan thing, jumping from one treetop to the next. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as it looked. A lot of times I almost fell and had to sloth cling to a branch.  
After about twelve trees I finally messed up, I thought I could make a six foot gap, but ended up landing on the ground hitting my back with a loud thud and an "Eeeuggh."  
It was only then that the bull noticed I was yards away.  
He stamped his hoof and began to charge.  
I jumped up fumbling for my sword.  
Then I was tackled.  
Everything went black and I felt like I was falling.  
"Nico," I said, "Please tell me that's you."  
"No it's the other Son of Hades," he replied sarcastically.  
We tumbled out onto grass, still in Central Park.  
"Why didn't you transport us to camp?" I asked, exasperated.  
"We need to stop them," said Nico, "They'll tear up this place looking for us."  
"So?" I blurted "That's better than both of us getting torched by robot livestock!"  
Nico looked at me disapprovingly.  
"Fine," I agreed "We'll stop the giant bulls from destroying Central Park."  
"How were going to do that, I don't know," said Nico.  
I scanned the area looking for a possible advantage.  
"I think I have and an idea," I said.  
I had just seen it, well actually heard it; the gurgling splashes of a fountain nearby.  
Nico and I jumped to our feet and sprinted following the sound.  
As we were running I yelled back to Nico, "I remember Percy telling me that the Colchian Bulls are burning to the touch. Well I'm pretty sure anything that breathes fire and has naturally hot skin doesn't like water."  
"You are amazing," replied Nico as we skidded to a halt in the middle of an fancy well gardened clearing.  
"I know," I said, pulling out my weapon and defense disks. I activated the shield first, spinning my forefinger lightly around the rim and watching it unfold into full size. I didn't get the time to activate my sword.  
One of the bulls, smoke pouring from its nostrils saw us stamped its hoof again, reared up a little and cried out. Whinnied, bleated, roared, whatever you call a mechanical bull sound.  
Then he charged, Nico and I dove out of the way in opposite directions. Without even getting up to my feet I crawled over and flung myself into the fountain. There was a shallow basin about twenty feet in radius with a few inches worth of water in it. In the middle of the basin there was a large jet of water spurting up as tall as me. Nico crawled over next to me, splashing through the fountain. We sat next to each other just in front of the jet. The spray dripped on us from above, it was freezing cold, soaking through out clothes and hair. He started to smell like wet sheep due to the wool collar on his aviator's jacket. I pulled a soppy movie stub out of my purple hoodie's pocket, letting it drift in the pool. Nico curled his fingers around mine.  
I looked over at him and smiled, I hadn't had this much fun all year.  
"Good first date?" he asked.  
"Best I've ever had," I replied.  
The bull snorted indignantly, he was not amused by our romance now was the time for pulverization. He circled around the fountain not daring to step into the water.  
After a few minutes he got fed up.  
Then he drew his head back and his jaw dropped open, I saw what was coming next, so did Nico.  
Just as a spark of flames began to form in the beast's mouth I jumped up got behind the fountain. I pressed my shield into the spray of water, angling it just right and Nico carefully rolled towards the bull.  
I used the old spoon trick, the water bounced off my shield and was redirected straight into the bull's mouth. He froze, tensing up. He steamed intensely a white cloud bellowed around him. I could hear the whirring inside of him slow, his inner mechanism noises stopping all except a loud clicking which began to grow lazy, his automated voice said, "Pyrotechnic malfuuncctiioooonn…" and gurgled to a stop.  
Nico took advantage of this lull in the system. He jumped up, pulled his sword from nowhere, and beheaded the bull.  
Nico and I grinned at each other, "One down, one to go," I said.  
"And we found their weakness," he replied happily.  
Within seconds of out conversation ending the other bull tromped into the clearing ripping up the neatly planted flowers.  
From a distance I saw an old couple watching us in horror.  
Gods, I thought to myself, the newspapers are gonna be strange this week.  
The bull sprang into action. He ignored me, focusing on Nico, registering him as the only demigod on the premises.  
Nico dived into a tree and sprang up out of the fence behind the bull, plunging his stygian iron sword into a chink in the bull's hip.  
The bull reared up, and sprinted forward, surprised.  
Nico and I watched as the bull rampaged away out of the Conservatory Garden and straight into Harlem Meer, sinking into the murky depths.  
"Your sword," I said sadly.  
"It's okay," replied Nico, "I can summon it whenever I want."  
He leaned against a tree, casually, and then pulled the sword out of the shadows in the branches.  
"Okay," I admitted shrinking my shield and tucking it into my pocket, "That's cool."  
"Very," he agreed, "So…shall we get going."  
"Yeah," I said walking up to him, wringing out my sopping hair, "After all we are going to Hawaii tomorrow morning."  
He tucked his sword away and held out his hand to me.  
I took it gratefully and we fell into the shadows.


	4. Chapter 4

Due to the fact that halfway through the void a shadow demon attacked us, Nico and I's landing was not so graceful.  
He landed on his chest, myself dropping painfully onto my hindquarters.  
We both sat atop Half-blood Hill for a while, watching campers play sports. I reached out, feeling for the invisible wall just in case. My fingertips passed through easily, I assumed I only needed to be invited in once, like with vampires.  
It was about four in the afternoon, early June sun blared through the sparse fluffy white clouds making the grass glow a vibrant green.  
"Do you think this place will ever change?" I asked, "Like really change?"  
"No," replied Nico, "There are always gonna be new things, different campers but I think underneath all that Camp's gonna stay how it is a safe place, a home for kids like us."  
"Like you," I corrected him.  
He rolled his eyes at me, "Drama queen."  
"Oh whatever," I retorted, "I'm allowed. I've been through enough to be justified to complain about it, at least to my best friend."  
"Yeah, I guess your right," he agreed, "But you're not the only one."  
I followed his gaze; Percy was walking with Annabeth they were laughing happily like a normal teenage couple.  
"Should we go say hi?" I asked.  
"Nah," replied Nico "Wouldn't want to ruin the moment."  
"We are much more considerate than mechanical bulls," I added and we both laughed.  
I got to my feet brushing dead grass off my jeans, which had a few tears and scorch marks in them, just how I liked it.  
Nico and I walked down the hill together, I kart wheeled part of the way down and then forced Nico to try also. He wasn't quite as good as me; his feet didn't really leave the ground. For a while we played elbow tag with the Aphrodite cabin. Nico and I only cheated a little, that was until Piper caught on and threatened to charmspeak us into a fashion show.  
As soon as I finished proving my worth at the climbing wall the horn blew, notifying everyone that it was time for dinner.  
Nico and I ambled up together joking about how crazy it would be if Norse mythology was real. All of the strange step-siblings you have if you were a child of Loki.  
When Percy saw me he immediately picked me up, twirling me around, saying "I am so happy to see you!"  
Annabeth hugged me too, but she was gentler about it.  
Nico went over to get him and me some food while I said hello to Cloe, Ava and Maria. He met me at the offerings fire with a large plate of brisket and Caesars salad. I dropped my best piece of brisket into the fire and looked up at the sky, saying clearly in my head, please; please let nothing go wrong on this quest. Although I knew it was long shot. A really long shot.  
I talked with Cloe and Ava all evening, since Maria was with her Hecate family. Chiron looked a little upset that Cloe and Ava weren't sitting at their correct tables, but he excused it because he knew they wanted to catch up with me.  
Cloe went on and on about how great it was going with her and Will. Eventually Ava shut her up by interrupting talking about the fireworks.  
"You two are going together right?" she demanded blatantly looking at Nico and I.  
"Yeah," I said, "I guess. If were here that day."  
"You can't just miss it!" blurted Cloe, "What could be so important that you'd miss the fireworks?"

"Well…" I trailed off.  
"No," butted in Ava, "You did NOT get another quest," she blared loudly.  
I stuffed a piece of brisket in her mouth to get her to quiet down as other campers began to turn their head.  
"Sort of," I whispered scolding, "but it's confidential."  
"Oooooooooh," said Cloe excitedly.  
"It's a bunch of miniquests," I began still keeping my voice hushed, "If you guys wanted to go on one with me."  
Both of their mouths dropped open. A bit of brisket fell out of Ava mouth.  
"Us?" she sputtered.  
"Yeah, you two and Maria," I offered.  
"Yes," said Cloe, "Oh my gods, I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for so long."  
"An opportunity to get yourself killed?" I asked.  
"No," she replied, "An opportunity to prove to everyone I'm not just another nature freak daughter of Demeter."  
"Am I aloud to bring explosives?" asked Ava.  
"Yeah sure…" I replied, "If you want."  
"Sweet," she whispered.  
"Attention please," called Chiron.  
The pavilion feel silent instantly, I guess nobody was expecting an announcement.  
"In light of recent events," began Chiron.  
"Oh no," whispered someone from the Hermes cabin, "Is he gonna cancel this week's capture the Flag because of that rodent…incident."  
Chiron cleared his throat and began again, "In light of all of our new campers," he gestured to a table where a group of kids that I'd never seen, all of which I presumed to be demi-titans, "We will be hosting our own Camp Half Blood Olympic Games!"  
Everyone cheered, chattering excitedly. This had never been done before.  
"Each cabin will be its own team and the games will select a winner tournament style. If you come in last place in one of the challenges you will be eliminated for that round. The winner will have golden laurels awarded to them by the Lord Apollo himself and will be excuse from all chores for three months."  
The pavilion practically exploded with noise, those were some pretty sweet prizes.  
After chatting with everyone about how great the games would be the excitement settled, we all wanted more information.  
"The first event will be a sword fighting tournament which will take place next Wednesday, followed by a chariot race on week after, more of the events will be scheduled later," announced Chiron finally.  
"Dang it," cursed Cloe, "None of my siblings are any good with a sword."  
Ava laughed at Cloe's pain and we all filed out of the pavilion down to the campfire.  
It was good to do something as normal as the campfire, stuffing my face with smores and listening to the Apollo cabins sing. We ended the night by singing Don't Stop Believing, which seemed pretty lame but when you get enough people singing together anything can be fun.  
I said goodnight to all of my friends and Nico and I walked back to the cabins together.  
Halfway to my cabin I stopped and said, "Let's go to the sand dunes."  
"But the harpies," protested Nico.  
"I'm mortal they won't notice you, and your technically not a camper so they won't bother us," I said, "Hopefully."  
I gave him a confident smile, watching his dark eyes glitter in the moonlight. It was only then that I realized how much he'd grown over the past year. He was now at least two inches taller than me and I'm pretty tall.  
We were no longer the middle-schoolers we were when we'd met. We'd matured, well, at least physically.  
As soon as the sun disappeared the air grew chilly, not painfully cold, jus that nip of nighttime that's strangely exhilarating.  
Nico took off his huge aviator's jacket and placed it over my shoulders.  
It was cliché but I appreciated the gesture, mostly because my hoodie was pretty thin and still damp from the fountain.  
I slipped my hand into his. His skin was always so cold, it was like touching marble, hardly even human.  
We walked in silence out to the dunes. I slipped my shoes off and let the cool sand envelop my toes.  
We sat next to each other facing the ocean, watching the silvery waves hit the shore. I rested my head on his shoulder, eventually sinking deeper and deeper into him until I was lying across his legs. He twirled the ends of my hair tentatively.  
"This quest is gonna suck," I said blatantly.  
"Yeah," he agreed, "but then it's all over."  
"I hope so," I said, "I love fighting monsters individually, but when it's part of a big gruesome picture that just takes the fun out of it."  
"I know exactly what you mean," he said.  
I trailed my fingertips through the sand, looking out of the ocean.  
"Tomorrow were gonna be on the opposite side of the country. Looking at the ocean from a different direction, "I said, "How weird is that."  
"Pretty crazy," he said, "But in comparison to some of the other stuff we do…"  
I laughed lightly. It was true, when you're mixed up in the gods' business traveling across the country in a day wasn't all that strange.  
I think I might have fallen asleep still lying across Nico because I don't recall going back to my cabin or getting in bed.  
When I woke up, my shoes were neatly placed next to my bed.  
"He is such a dork," I muttered to myself. He was so nice it was almost pathetic, almost.  
I changed out of my day old clothes and into a fresh camp shirt and a pair of jean shorts with black converse. It was nice to put on some 100% dry clothes that didn't smell like charcoal, pond water and sweat.  
I threw a few pieces of clothing into my duffel bag, some shorts, a few camp shirts extra pair of shoes, extra dagger, the monokini I thought I would never need, a few forks, toothpaste, hairbrush, some tank tops, Medea SPF 3000 sunscreen, (which totally would have come in handy yesterday) and more tank tops. You know, the normal fifteen year old girl stuff.  
I grabbed my armor from atop my dresser and stuffed it in with the rest, and then slid my weapons disk into my back pocket. A silver glimmer caught my eye from the back of the dresser top. I reached up and pulled the little trinket towards my spinning it in my fingers.  
It was the ring I had almost died getting out of the lake last year. I had never bothered to read the inscription which was a shame because now I couldn't, it being written in Greek. I sighed and slipped it on. It fit me perfect and I liked the look of it. A simple silver band, I decided to wear it. Worse case scenario I lose it and go back to square one, it not like it's that important.  
I zipped up my bag and threw it over my shoulder and tromped out my front door slamming the screen door behind me.  
Nico was sitting on my railing waiting, I'm sure he heard me walk out since I wasn't exactly stealthy about it but he didn't turn around. I took that as an opportunity, I shoved him off the railing and he stumbled into the grass.  
"How long have you been there?" I demanded.  
"Only a few minutes," he lied.  
"You really got to get a life," I said, "And some sleep."  
I ruffled his hair as a playful apology, then put my hair up and he wiped the grass off his pant legs.  
"Your dressed a little hot, dontcha think?" I said, looking at him.  
He was wearing black combat boots, black jeans, a black t-shirt with a skull on it and his aviator's jacket.  
"No," he replied, confused.  
"Dude," I said, "It's gonna be like ninety degrees. We are going to Hawaii in June."  
"So?" he asked.  
"You've never been to Hawaii have you?"  
"Nope," he replied.  
"Go get changed," I dictated, "Wear some shorts at least. I'll wait here."  
He groaned dramatically.  
"You'll be thanking me later," I called after him as he walked back to his cabin.  
After few minute he was back, wearing black shorts and his jacket was gone and he was wearing black converse, matching mine.  
"That's weird," I said, taking in the full outfit.  
"Don't you dare make me change again," he said.  
"No it's not bad," I replied, "I just don't think I've even seen you in anything but pants."  
"That's likely," he replied.  
"Aren't you gonna bring a bag?" I asked.  
"Nah, I can just pop back here for a change."  
"That is so useful," I said, and then he stepped into the morning shadow of my cabin and grabbed my hand.  
We landed on a whale watching boat; a few of the tourists screamed and fell overboard. After a about five seconds of pure chaos we fell into shadow again leaving the tourists with a great story to tell everyone once they got home.  
Then Nico and I feel from a palm tree's shadow onto a beach. It was pretty deserted, only a few umbrellas here and there, which was surprising.  
Some six year olds ran in circles kicking at the sand and playing tag with the waves.  
It was the perfect tropical temperature, a little hot, the air thick with moisture. The sky was cloudless and the beach stretched on for a mile.  
I turned around, gathering our surroundings figuring out which part of Hawaii we were on.  
"Hmmm," I said, "We must be near Kihei."  
"How do know that?" asked Nico surprised.  
"I've been here a few times, Henry's brother has a house here on Polo Beach, it's really nice."  
"Cool," replied Nico, "So what do we do now?"  
I thought for a minute, Zeus had never really specified…anything. As far as I knew the destination spot was far out into the ocean.  
"Let's go swimming," I said.  
I found a little changing tent and (not so gracefully) pulled on my pink and gold monokini.  
Nico was waiting for me at the water's edge, shirtless.  
The last time I'd seen him shirtless was when we were facing Joe the Kraken, two years ago. Needless to say, he'd toned since then. And by toned I mean he had serious abs, like he must've been doing pushups and crunches daily.  
I raced past him, pulling out my ponytail while still running and dived into the waves.  
Nico stared at me for a while until I splashed him back into reality.  
We had a water war, raced a few times, and played wave tag which seemed childish but it was really fun.  
After about an hour he got tired and decided to go get us some ice cream from a shack a little way down the beach.  
I discovered a small reef a few yards off shore and I borrowed a little girl's pair of goggles. They were adorable and pink and really tight but they worked. I swam over the reef watching the fish dart in and out of the coral. A few Nereids waved hello to me, they were different from the ones at the lake. Their skin was bluer and they had freckles that worked as camouflage in the sand. On of them gave me a lei of shells placing it over my head kindly, giggling like crazy. I guess they weren't used to being seen.  
Suddenly just as I had swam out as far as the reef went, the Nerieds scattered, frightened by something. I assumed it was just a boat or some kayakers going over above us.  
I was wrong.  
I was really really wrong.  
From the depths figures immerged, they looked like eels with dog heads, about ten feet long. On their back were nereids, but not just regular nereids, creepy nereids. Like the ones who drown people for fun. They had wild eyes, pointed teeth, hair like black seaweed and dark splotches all of their bodies. At the end of each finger tip they had four inch long talons like black porcupine quills and their black hair flared up into a mane.  
I got the feeling they weren't here to welcome me to Poseidon's domain.  
A few of them screeched, sounding like a bubblier version of nails on chalkboard.  
Then they attacked.


	5. Chapter 5

The demon fish and evil Nereids circled around me, cautiously, deciding who should attack first. A particularly gaunt one, with more grayish skin than the others launched herself at me. She slashed at my stomach, cutting through the fabric of my swimsuit. My monokini was now a bikini. She tore off the goggles I was wearing and rammed me again, knocking me into the turbulent surf. The pink goggles drifted away into the waves, and I felt a bit guilty. I had borrowed those from a six year old. Now she'd never see them again.  
The other Nereids took my moment of lull as an opportunity and then shoved me deeper into the surf, letting the waves knock me around, pulling me farther and farther into the surf.  
The waves crashed over me, pounding me into the sand.  
The water roared in my ears, mixing with the screeches of the Nereids.  
One of the demon fish dogs bit into right calf, sinking its fangs in deep.  
I screamed out in pain, the sound only coming out in bubbles. I watched as blood seeped from the wound turning the water red.  
The Nereids began to circle again, but this time less excited.  
A few of the Nereids looked at me curiously, confused by something. They seemed a little scared.  
A few of them fled, taking there ocean hounds with them.  
The bravest one, also the biggest, barred her fangs at me and with me helpless still fighting the waves. She swam up with a quick burst and elbowed me in the face.  
Everything went black, for a second I could feel my body begin to sink.  
I didn't even notice that during the entire time, I had never stopped for breath.  
I never needed to.  
I could breathe underwater.

When I woke, I woke up screaming.  
Whilst being unconscious my subconscious must have realized how much danger I was in so it decided to wake me up with sound of my own shrieks.  
My eyes snapped open and I sat up, my hands first going up to my mouth, bubbles formed when I muttered to myself, so I was exhaling air. But how in the world was I inhaling it.  
I looked around, I was still underwater, but the scenery was much different.  
I was in a room. It was small and circular, only having a bed and a dresser. It was a huge white four poster bed, the head boards appeared to be made out of white coral and the white silk sheets floated lazily over the bed. The walls were carved from white shell looking like entwining vines, and the floor was made from abalone, the room looked like a gazebo. With open walls except for more tightly woven with carved white shell.  
Outside I could see a palace, half moon shaped, myself on one end. I must have been up in a tower because I could see most of the castle from above.  
Crazy looking merpeople, fish and various sea monsters weaved peacefully through the spires and courtyards.  
"Poseidon's castle," I whispered to myself, resulting in a flurry of bubbles.  
Not only had my location changed, but my outfit had too.  
I was wearing a sheered blue dress, a pearly white breast plate and my hair had been pulled back elaborately, with various pearls and shells entwined with braids.  
"Why do they always have to dress me up?" I sighed, "I'm the freaking Barbie doll of the gods."  
I felt my hair, which had tripled in size, pulled a mini crab off the back of my neck, and freaked out when I found starfish sucking on various places on my body.  
Tiny sea creatures had made homes for themselves on me, like I was a human coral reef.  
A gigantic sea star was sucking on my wounded calf; I screamed at it (resulting in more bubbles) and tried to pry it from my leg.  
"I would do that if I were you," chimed a voice from my right, "You're not fully healed yet."  
I jumped, slightly rising from the bed, Mea floated in the window/door/balcony entrance.  
She swam up to me and hugged me tightly.  
"Oh and if you think about what your going to say before you speak, there won't be so many bubbles. Don't ask me how that works, I don't know."  
"What- what in Hades are you doing here?" I asked.  
"I'm here to protect you of course," she replied cheerily, "Who do you think brought you here and fixed you up?"  
"Was the hair really necessary?" I asked.  
She giggled, "No, but you were out for a while and I got bored. Oh and sorry about the armor, it's the only think we have here."  
"Not a problem," I replied, "I prefer armor, especially over dresses," I picked at the skirt distastefully, "Wait, aren't you a freshwater mermaid? How can you breathe here?" I asked.  
She laughed again, "You ask how I, the mermaid, can breathe here, before you ask why you can," she shook her head in disbelief, "I'm here working for Poseidon and this necklace," she said gesturing at a silver chain around her neck, "works as a filtration system, like that ring you're wearing, it creates a small force field around my body and like yours filters the water into air, mine filters it into freshwater."  
"My ring?" I asked, and then realized I was still wearing the small silver band around my ring finger. I examined it, it glowed lightly, a dim blue surrounding my entire body.  
"The ring of Neptune," said a male voice from the balcony.  
I spun around to see Poseidon, in full battle armor, similar to mine but much more elaborate.  
He smiled warmly at me, "Welcome to my Palace, Lea."  
"Thanks…"I replied hesitantly.  
Normally demigods don't get direct council with Poseidon, Percy had told me this. I worried what I had done wrong.  
"I'm guessing Zeus sent you to collect my part of the Celestial Staff first," suggested Poseidon.  
"Uh yeah," I replied, my glance flickering to Mea. Not that I didn't trust her. I just thought that nobody was supposed to know about the staff, but she didn't look confused at all.  
Poseidon noticed my stare, "Mea is my most trusted warrior, there is a reason I've sent her to check in on you and Percy so often. She is the only one on my court who knows of the staff, for she took part in its creation."  
"What?" I sputtered, "She's like seventeen."  
Poseidon chuckled, "and I'm like forty. Don't let appearances fool you."  
Mea grinned at me reassuringly; there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. I'm guessing she didn't tell many of her suitors this.  
"Alright," I said, pushing back my hair feeling my eyes bulge a little, so one of my friends was over 3000 years old, no big deal. Nico is somewhere around eighty years old.  
"I wish Zeus had told me you were coming," sighed Poseidon, "You could've avoided this trip altogether."  
"What do you mean?" I demanded, watching the large starfish slowly relocate himself on my calf.  
"You already have the sea portion of the staff," explained Poseidon, "I gave it to you last year, knowing that this quest would formulate."  
"The ring?" I asked, fiddling with it on my finger. I got the strange urge to take it off, but I knew that would result in me being crushed by the water pressure.  
I stopped fiddling with the ring.  
"Indeed," he replied, "If my brother had not been so insolent you could have been saved a trip. Oh well, might as well take advantage of your time here. I need some help."  
"Help with what?" I questioned.  
I was answered by an explosion.  
"He has arrived," announced Poseidon, looking worried.  
I noticed that some of his hair turned a bit grayer and his wrinkles deepened momentarily.  
"Who?" I asked curiously, stepping off the bed shakily. I still wasn't used to the whole walking underwater thing.  
Mea helped me find my balance.  
Poseidon led us through the doorway and down a long corridor made from the same beautiful white shell and abalone.  
After a lot of walking, (and stumbling over my own feet, in my case) we walked into a large room. It looked like a conference room, with a huge rectangular table. By huge, I mean it was made for people who were at least thirty feet tall. There were large thrones of the same proportions. I felt tiny, once again like a Barbie doll, but this time for a different reason.  
"Cover your eyes," Mea whispered into my ear.  
I instantly knew what was going to happen and shielded my eyes with my arm.  
The bright light pierced through my mask, but luckily I was not blinded.  
When the light faded and my eyes adjusted I saw Poseidon next to me, tripled in size.  
He ambled over to the largest throne at the head of the table and sat down, staring at the far doorway expectantly. He looked very wary.  
"Come with me," said Mea, she grabbed my arm and swam us up to a small balcony over looking the table.  
Just as I got comfortable other people began to enter, as they did Mea whispered their name into my ear.  
First was Amphrite, wearing an outfit similar to mine.  
Following her was the rest of Poseidon's court, a few Nereids, and Triton.  
There was also a guy who looked like a very grumpy hobo, Nerius, (I snickered remembering Percy's evil Santa Claus story), a nice looking fisherman chewing what I thought was tobacco, Glaucus, and a guy who kept on shifting forms I couldn't exactly pin any one feature on him, expect that he was always male, Proteus.  
All of these gods (or whatever they were) sat on the right side of the table, muttering to each other nervously.  
I was about to ask Mea what was going on, when there was another explosion, and a brilliant flash of blue light.  
Then a new much more sinister looking group marched through the door. First was a rabid looking chick, matching Percy's description of the evil aquarium lady, Keto and a wiry hair man who walked like a crab. His name was like Porky or something.  
Lastly entered two particularly large people, a man and a woman.  
The woman had straight green-black hair pulled back into a simple straight ponytail. She had dark sunken eyes, green iris that swirled and churned like deep sea water, her eye brows were arched so dramatically she looked like a carton and her cheekbones were so pronounced that they looked like someone had molded her out of clay with a knife. The man looked quite similar; he was about sixty years old, with equally harsh cheekbones. He wore a lead colored suit with a metallic green skinny tie. He had curly short cut salt and pepper hair and down turned lips as if he had just eaten something really sour. Following him and the woman was a bunch of those crazy Nereids who had attacked me earlier.  
"Pontus and Thalassa," whispered Mea, sounding slightly in awe, "And they've brought the Rouges."  
"Pontus like the protengea of the sea, Pontus?" I asked. I knew that when she said Rouges she was referring to the Nereids.  
Mea gulped, nodding. She looked terrified.  
I started to feel a bit terrified too, all of these really powerful and really important members of the Sea Deity all in one room. Something big was happening.  
"Welcome," boomed Poseidon, "Please sit, you are guests here at the moment."  
"At the moment," grumbled Pontus bitterly.  
Poseidon ignored the bitter comment, "We have come to discuss the terms of an alliance."  
"Indeed," agreed Pontus, "and I'd rather not dally with standard formal procedure."  
A few of the Rouges hissed at me as they circled the room. Other than Mea and myself they were the only being of normal size, the rest being in giant form.  
"Alright," said Poseidon, "We'll get straight to it. What are your terms?"  
Pontus thought for a minute, muttering with Thalassa.  
"We have decided in order to be your allies we want control over the Seven Major oceans unconditionally."  
Everyone on Poseidon's Court gasped.  
"No," replied Poseidon instantly, "No that is absurd. That's more that 80% of my kingdom."  
"At least six of the oceans or I will send the signal marching troops on there way here to take the ocean by force," replied Pontus defiantly.  
The room exploded with noise, everybody got to their feet yelling at the opposite side of the table. They shouted death threats and shook their fists at each other.  
I looked over at Mea who appeared to be having a panic attack, she was mutter, "Oh no, oh no no no," and repeatedly running her fingers through her hair.  
"Oh shut up, will you?" I yelled at the top of my lungs.  
Everybody gasped, stopping the chattering immediately and turning to stare up at me in awe. Even the Rouges stopped what they were doing and dropped their arms dumbly, looking like sea gorillas.  
"Excuse me?" shrieked Thalassa.  
"Did I stutter?" I replied snarkily.  
Thalassa's mouth dropped open.  
She was beginning to remind of Hera, all high and mighty.  
"I'll make you guys a deal," I said, "Either you can choose to fight the Olympians and get torn to pieces or you can ally with us and I'll promise to spare you."  
The room vibrated with laughter, Thalassa nearly folded over completely she was cracking up so badly.  
I kept my cool, if there was one thing I learned from making deals with the gods; they always act more confident than they are.  
I stood on the balcony, Mea staring at me in horror; I smiled pleasantly down at the councils.  
"Did you hear that?" wheezed Thalassa, "The little mortal girl just threatened us!"  
The Porky guy laughed hesitantly; shifting uncomfortably next to Keto who was crying with laughter.  
"Oh you sad, ill informed crustaceans," I hissed down at them putting on a show, "You don't know what's coming do you?"  
They stopped laughing immediately, staring up at me; confused.  
"Oh that is just," I paused, "fantastic!"  
They began to look scared of me, the way people stare at some drunken guy ranting on the street.  
"You have no idea!" I yelled, acting excited, and then I began to laugh maniacally.  
They looked at each other uncomfortably, muttering, "What don't we know?"  
"Oh shame it's a secret," I said, "Only our allies know the plan."  
Instantly Porky's hand shot up, "I pledge my allegiance to Poseidon once again."  
Nerius, Proteus and Glaucus, rolled their eyes exasperatedly, muttering to one another, "Always shifting with the power," one of them said.  
Keto stood and said, "I too will ally with you Poseidon, if you promise to release my children into the sea of monsters where they may be contained."  
At first I thought it was kind of weird that this chick was asking to put her kids in monster infested waters, but then I realized her kids are the monsters.  
"It will be done," agreed Poseidon, beginning got grow younger with new strength and hope.  
"Traitors," muttered Thalassa.  
"I too, will ally," offered Pontus, he looked directly at me, "If you agree I will not be harmed in any way and will join the Council of Poseidon with high ranking power."  
"I agree," Said Poseidon, "But the power must be earned, you must prove yourself loyal when the opportunity arises."  
Pontus nodded, sitting back down.  
"You coward!" screamed Thalassa.  
Pontus seemed unfazed by her comment.  
She screamed and erupted into bubbles, disappearing.  
Following their masters lead the Rouges swam out of the room quickly, fleeing.  
"Well," huffed Poseidon," That went well."  
"Well?" I asked.  
Had he not just sent the crazy ocean spirit just transport away in a flurry of bubbles?  
"Don't worry about Thalassa," Pontus said looking at me, "She's all talk."  
"Reminds me of someone I know," I muttered, hoping Hera couldn't hear me.  
Pontus grinned, "Who are you?"  
"I'm…" I paused for a second thinking about Zeus' warning, "Kim. Kimberly Doubt, daughter of Iris. I was here on a trip to deliver a message to Poseidon and I just kind of got caught up in things."  
There was a twinkle of doubt in Pontus eyes, "That's odd, I don't sense any divine lineage in you."  
"Well, I um," I stuttered, "Poseidon made me trade it for the ability to breath underwater. Were going to trade back soon."  
"Mmhm," agreed Pontus and then sensing my lies he took a last glance at me and walked out of the room.  
I looked at Mea, wide eyed. We both kind of stared at each other for a second saying through our expressions, "Thank the gods that's over."  
I stepped off the balcony and let myself sink to the floor; the council began to drift out. Glaucus, on his way out offered me some weird herb, which I of course denied and he shrugged as if to say, "Your loss, could've made you a sea god, but that's your choice."  
Proteus shook my hand appreciatively on his way out of the room, which felt really strange because his hand was constantly shifting into different shapes and sizes.  
After a few minutes Poseidon, Mea and I were once again the only ones in the room.  
"Thank you, Lea," said Poseidon, "you bluff was exactly what we needed."  
"Yeah, no problem," I replied, "I guess those theaters my mom made me go to back in second grade paid off."  
Poseidon chuckled, "I don't think I've ever met a demigod with as much spunk as you."  
"Gee thanks," I replied.  
I never really liked the word spunk, it reminded me too much of skunk.  
"Mea," said Poseidon, "if you could please escort Lea back to her friend. I have a feeling he's quite worried."  
"What friend?" I asked confused, "Oh my gods, Nico!" I shouted.  
Poseidon chuckled again, Mea joining with him, with her cheery little giggle.  
Mea grabbed my hand and a flurry of bubbles engulfed us like it had done with Thalassa.  
Suddenly I felt myself rise and the next thing I knew I was breaking the surface of the water, completely soaking wet. I guess I didn't get all the same benefits as Percy.  
My hair had fallen out of the elaborate hairstyle and the armor was gone.  
A few on the little sea creatures that had been hanging out in my hair or attached themselves to my skin, jumped of. Abandoning ship, sinking back below the waves. The large starfish detached itself from my calf leaving it perfectly healed. It felt weird was watching the purple guy get pulled around by the tide, I probably should've thanked him.  
Mea had also disappeared.  
I was left, treading water about a hundred feet out from shore in a sheer blue dress.  
I swam up onto shore, tripping over the dress, falling into the sand clumsily. It seemed as if as soon I had gotten used to walking through water, I forgot how to walk like a normal person.  
A few yards down the shore, Nico stared at me in awe, two completely melted ice cream cones in his hands. The melted desert covered his fingers, his entire forearm was coated in the sticky cream but he didn't seem to notice. He was clearly freaking out.  
The second he saw me, cursing at the sand spitting out sea water, he dropped both of the cones and sprinted towards me.  
He flung his arms around me at such a force that he nearly knocked me over.  
"Where in Hades were you?" he demanded.  
"Swimming," I replied vaguely.  
"For three hours straight?" he asked.  
"It was only three hours?"  
"Only!" he spat, letting go of his tight grip, "Lea, I had no idea where you went. I wandered around the beach looking for you with ice cream in my hands for the entire time."  
"Sorry," I replied, "This didn't really go as planned did it?"  
He laughed desperately, resting his forehead on my shoulder, "Not exactly, although we didn't really have plan in the first place."  
"Touché," I said, "But I got what we came for so I'd say it was a success."  
"You did?" he asked, pulling back to stare at me questioningly.  
"Actually," I replied, "Turns out I had it all along."  
I flashed the ring at him.  
He didn't even question, we both knew not to say too much out loud for fear someone might here us.  
He sighed, "Just as long as you're alright."  
He hugged me again, "You smell like the ocean."  
"Really?" I asked, rolling my eyes, "I wonder why?"  
He pulled away letting go of me, then he noticed what I was wearing.  
"You look like a goddess," he said.  
I laughed insecurely, shoving him, "You should have seen me as a goddess."  
"Sorry, I got a bit of ice cream on the back of your dress," he said referring to the smudges of mint chip on the nape of my back.  
"Sorry that I'm soaking wet, and now you are too," I replied.  
"I don't mind," he said, and then he grinned at me.  
The sun was setting in the distance, dying the sky red, pink and orange.  
Nico and I trudged back to where we had tucked our suitcases and I quickly changed into some pajamas. Nico came out of the changing room wearing long pants again, which was actually kind of reliving in a way. It was too weird seeing him in shorts.  
We both sat in the warm sand, myself burying my toes to keep them warm as we watched the sun sink below the horizon.  
"So," asked Nico, "Should we head back to camp?"  
"In a minute," I replied, "Were in Hawaii after all, no need to leave so soon."  
"Hmm, yeah," he replied, "Guess your right."  
"Of course I'm right," I said, jabbing him lightly in the ribs.  
He laughed, "Can't take a compliment can you?"  
"No."  
He sighed, "So what's next?"  
"I wait for Zeus to call me back to Olympus to reveal the second location. Until then we stay at camp."  
"I'm guessing your going o take part in the sword fighting tournament," said Nico.  
"Definitely," I replied, "You?"  
"I'm not sure," he replied, "That would mean I'd have to fight you."  
"Is it really a fight if you have no chance of winning?" I taunted.  
"Oh now I'm definitely going to do it," he replied.  
"Just you try," I said and then I leaned against him, closing my eyes.  
In a few hours we'd be back at camp, we'd be safe and I wouldn't have to worry about the quest for a while.  
I fell asleep deceiving myself with those thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up back at camp in bed, the slightly damp dress still clinging to my body uncomfortably.  
I must have been pretty tired because when I woke the sun notified me that it was well into the day. I changed into a pair of soft worn jeans and a camp shirt, with combat boots. I threw the dress onto the ground where it turned into seawater and trickled through the cracks between the floorboards.  
Well, I wasn't going to wear it again anyways, I thought.  
Nico clearly wasn't at camp because I didn't meet him on my way to the Pavilion and he wasn't in his cabin. He must have gone off to check on Hazel or something. I ate breakfast alone and then teamed up with the Apollo Cabin for a game of Volleyball against the Demeter team and after severely scraping up my knees we lost horribly. The Demeter Cabin might have cheated but there was no way to prove that the grass was latching onto my feet. Afterwards I met up with Travis and Connor Stoll, who were up to their usual shenanigans. Upon seeing me they both smiled and Travis bowed and presented me with a toothbrush he claimed belong to Dionysus himself.  
Needless to say I dropped it immediately.  
"He's coming back today for the games," said Connor, "We thought he should be greeted properly."  
"What did you do?" I inquired.  
"Just the basic sink-rubber band trick and replaced his toothpaste with mayonnaise," replied Travis pridefully, grinning.  
"Remind me to lock my door," I said playfully, as we stepped into the armory.  
Connor helped me strap on some basic leather armor, since I was too lazy to go all of the way back to get my own.  
We spent the next few hours training for the sword fighting competition that would be taking place tomorrow.  
Travis was better than Connor but I was better than both.  
After a few rounds (myself winning two of three) I was exhausted.  
Travis and Connor however were not, they continued to practice as I watched, yelling out pointers.  
I looked down at my hands, there were a few minor cuts and scrapes, but they burned like crazy. I don't remember such little things hurting so badly. Why was my threshold so much lower?  
I shrugged it off, wrapping up my hands in bandages and yelling, "Loosen up, LOOSEN UP!" to Connor.  
We all left very tired, myself the most, although I mad done the least, making me feel pathetic.  
We had lunch together, Chiron recognizing that I probably wasn't going to ever sit at my own table. I loved eating with the Hermes crowd; they were all so fun and playful, although I did notice that every time I turned to talk to someone a few of my fries would go missing.  
After lunch as people began to file out I noticed Jake and Ava standing at their table looking at me.  
After nearly everyone was gone I told Travis and Connor I'd see them later.  
I walked over to Jake and Ava. Ava was sitting lazily on the edge of table and Jake was standing next to her awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.  
"What's up guys? "I asked hesitantly.  
"You might have some tough competition for the sword fight," said Ava.  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
"Lance Beckett was elected as the Hephaestus sword champion," said Jake, he sounded kind of bitter and kind of jealous.  
"Is that a big deal?" I asked, they were acting like I was just challenged to a duel by Ares himself.  
"He's the one the challenged Jake for the Counselor position, and won. He's great a making sword and even better at fighting with them. He said he was going to 'kill' all of the other cabins. I would have thought he was an Ares kid if he wasn't such a great Craftsman too. He's the best sword fighter the Hephaestus cabin has ever had, he even beat of Leo for the place of counselor," explained Ava.  
"Is that supposed to scare me" I asked.  
"Yes," said Jake.  
"Look, Lea, we're on your side. I'd rather have you win for Morpheus than Lance with for Hephaestus," said Ava, "His head's already big enough. If it gets any bigger he'll explode."  
"Sounds like it'll be fun beating him," I said.  
"Lea," warned Ava, "Don't be so cocky. He might even try to cheat. He mentioned something about your armor no being so great anymore."  
"What?" I sputtered.  
"I think he's trying to sabotage the competition," said Ava, "We tried to talk to Chiron about it but he said since there was no proof that he couldn't do anything, but he'd keep a sharp eye on Lance."  
"Oh and if it's true you might want some new armor," said Jake, "Go and visit bunker Nine later, Leo's the best and fastest craftsman, I'm sure he'd be willing make you something."  
"Oh he'd definitely be willing," said Ava giggling, and then she jumped off the table and jogged away before I could ask what she meant.  
I looked over at Jake for an explanation, but he just blushed, fixed his Beiber-cut soft brunette hair and looked at his shoes.  
I crossed my arms, smirking, "You're not going to tell me what she meant?"  
"Not a chance," he muttered, but I had a pretty good idea.  
I left him there to examine the ground and went on to catch up with Connor and Travis.  
We did some more sword fighting and then practiced archery, I sucked even more than usual. I was worse that both Travis and Connor, and that was saying a lot, although I wasn't quite Percy bad yet. I still managed to hit a target.  
"You lost your mojo," joked Connor.  
I laughed lightly in reply, but I was scared he was right. Ever since I gave up my divine lineage, my skills had declined. Now with lack of practice and demigod skills, I was beginning to be average (or less than average) at everything I used to excel in.  
I tried again, aiming my bow precisely, but as I concentrated my hand shook and I missed completely.  
I sighed, forced a smile and said, "I wonder what I did to upset Apollo?" although I knew it was only my fault.  
After a while we all got bored, and maybe I was a bit ashamed at how poorly I was doing so we left earlier than planned.  
I vented my aggression through volleyball, which I had been practicing during P.E. over the year and was now sufficient at. Also I had begun to learn how the game actually worked instead of just hitting the ball whenever it came near me. I still haven't determined if this made me a better player or not. By the time the Apollo cabin and I had completely stomped the other team, the sun was casting a golden glow over the camp as it sunk down the sky.  
I figured now would be a good enough time as any to go talk to Leo. I was hesitant, to be honest. I hadn't talked to him much since the quest a year ago. There was something between us, but I wasn't quite sure what. Especially now that Nico was back in my life. I felt a bit guilty for ignoring him, just like the others do.  
I said goodnight to my friends just in case I didn't go to the campfire.  
I jogged back to my cabin pulling on a sweatshirt with my High School name on it, and stumbled around my room trying to pull on skinny jeans from two years ago. The denim fit snuggly around my now toned thighs.  
I rushed out my screen door and tromped down the creaky wooden steps ducking into the woods. I had a pretty good idea where Bunker 9 was, not to say I didn't get lost in the dark a few times but all I had to do was follow the sounds of crashing metal and small explosions and I was there just before dark.  
I was stunned by the size as I entered, it was huge. The room was shaped in a half cylinder, like a bomb shelter, with catwalks navigating the ceiling. There was a banner that read "Hey, Lea," which seemed like an overly casual thing to put on a banner, but I appreciated the welcome (and felt a bit weirded out by it too). There were huge storage containers in the back right corner, multiple work tables and a large empty space in the middle of the floor where I guessed the Argo II used to sit.  
The place was pretty crowded, except for the empty spot, like when six year old gets told to clean his room and just shoves everything into piles in the corners.  
A small wobbly three legged table waddled around the room picking things up and sorting through the junk. I watched it for a while silently taking everything in. It smelled like a Home Depot; fresh lumber, cement and metal.  
A crash made me look up, Leo appeared to have been walking along one of the catwalks and then spontaneously fallen. Maybe he slipped or something. He hung from a harness swinging absentmindedly, upside-down. When he caught me staring at him he flailed a little trying to regain his feet.  
"H-hey Lea," he said.  
"I thought you were expecting me," I replied, glancing up at the banner.  
"I was-I just figured- I didn't know," he tried to say, "I wasn't sure if you'd show up."  
Both of our cheeks flushed, him with embarrassment, mine with guilt.  
I tried to smile it off, "What, you thought I'd show you up?"  
He began to reply but he accidentally unhooked his belt in the wrong order and ended up crashing face first onto the cement floor, luckily he only dropped a few feet so I don't think he broke anything. Still, I rushed forward helping him up.  
"Dude," I muttered, "I thought you Hephaestus kids were supposed to be coordinated.  
He laughed passively, accepting my hand up.  
"So what've you got for me, Q?" I joked.  
"One second Agent Bond, no need to be hasty, the new mock of advanced armor is in the back," He fiddled with his belt, unattaching himself from the ceiling.  
"Meet you there," I offered impatiently.  
"Yeah", he replied quietly.  
I left him to get situated as I navigated my way deeper into the bunker.  
I had to step over a broken automaton cheerleader carcass on my way there, which was a bit unsettling but I continued anyways. The little three legged table stumbled past me, leading me through the piles of scraps.  
At the very back of the bunker something glowed with golden light, but not like a oil lantern, more like how celestial bronze glows in darkness.  
I could hear Leo crashing along in the catwalks above me, there was a strange whirring noise like a zip line and Leo landed gracefully next to me, having slid down a cable with a carabineer.  
"Now that's more like it," I said to him.  
"I know," he replied, "very secret agent."  
"We could make an excellent crime fighting duo," I said laughing as he led the way towards the golden light.  
When we turned around the corner of a large stack of lumber I saw the source of the light.  
On a headless mannequin a full outfit was displayed.  
Glowing golden was the most beautiful turtleneck I've ever seen. The main piece was a scaled breastplate reaching from the hips all of the way up the neck. At the shoulders were three spiked plate like my usual armor that melded into two plates for the upper and lower arm. The legs matched the arms with two large plates wrapping around the main sections and knee plates joining them together, completed with golden boots and spiked gauntlets.  
"Imperial gold," said Leo, "Strong as steel yet surprisingly light."  
"Dude," I stuttered, "That looks awesome."  
"Fully automated too!" added Leo.  
"What does that mean?" I asked running my fingers down the scales.  
"Automatic defense system matching that of your shield, but not over whelming, so you're not going to be jerked around against your will. It's also got teeny motion sensors inside so it can predict and enhance movement."  
"Oh my gods, Leo, how long did this take you?" I gaped.  
"Just a day," he replied casually.  
"How many hours?" I demanded, sensing a white lie.  
"24 and a half, but that's no big deal," he shrugged.  
"Holy Zeus, man! Did you even sleep? I cried.  
"Nahh, didn't need to," he replied dismissedly, pretending like it was no big deal he spent a full day non-stop making something for me.  
"I punched him in the shoulder as a way of saying thank you and said, "Whatever, where's the dressing room?"  
"Back there," replied Leo, observing the floor.  
I wheeled the mannequin into a small curtained room with me, and began to dress; underneath the armor was a finely tailored brown leather jumpsuit, which covered me entirely from the chin down, gloves and everything. It took about fifteen minutes and some major stumbling to get the back zipped up, but I managed. The armor fit impossibly well, sliding on loosely, and then tightening snugly up against my body, into position. It tailored itself to fit readjusting itself in size and shape until it was perfect fit. That must have been what Leo meant by 'fully automated'.  
I redid my ponytail, pulling back all of the loose strands with my bangs back into a tight style.  
I was surprised at how easy it was to move with the full armor on, usually even with leather it's tight, uncomfortable, sweaty and heavy but this was light and easy to maneuver in.  
I pulled back the curtain with a gloved hand, stepping out of the makeshift dressing room.  
When Leo saw me his mouth dropped open, he muttered something inaudible.  
I tucked an imaginary loose hair behind my ear.  
Leo grinned from one pointed ear to the other.  
"Just needs one more thing," he said and then disappeared into the darkness.  
I put my hand on my hip and rolled my eyes dramatically; exasperated by the amount of work he was putting into this outfit. He was spending more time making me look pretty and defended than I did during the homecoming dance.  
He reappeared with a small piece of gold in his hands, he walked up to me, and I stood still as he placed the metal on my face.  
It cradled my cheekbones framing my face in the imperial gold, vaguely resembling Magneto's headpiece.  
"What is the point of that?" I asked.  
"It makes you look really cool," he joked.  
"Pfft," I replied, "I already look cool."  
"It also helps with the automated defense system, it kind of hacks into your brain and figures out what you want to do and has the armor do it for you," he added.  
"Gee," I said, "I just love having my brain hacked."  
He laughed leaning against a work table.  
"Do you have your shield with you?" he asked.  
"Yeah, it's in my jeans pocket," I walked back to the dressing room and pulled the little disk out of the pocket.  
When I showed it to Leo he took my right arm and pressed the disk into a small circular indent.  
"Good, got the right measurements," he muttered as it clicked into place.  
I looked at him as he busied himself with some wiring that was coming from my elbow.  
He noticed me staring and glanced up twice then finally we locked eyes.  
"You're amazing," I said, "You know that right? You're amazing."  
He stared at me for what seemed like eons, then he realized that he wasn't dreaming and shook himself back into action, stuttered a reply. "Thanks, thank you."  
He turned away busying himself with something on the table.  
I attempted to recover from that weirdly intimate moment, "Not that I need this armor."  
I bit my tongue feeling stupid and vain.  
Gods. Why do I always get so nervous around guys who are nice to me?  
Why can't I just have a conversation without being mock prideful and sarcastic?  
From above I heard someone say, "Stupid girl, so proud of herself for no reason."  
I searched the room for a source of the voice.  
Leo and I met eyes.  
We both were wide eyed, panicking, he had no idea what was going on either.  
Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me into the better lit part of the bunker.  
Standing on one of the work tables, was Lady Gaga.  
Well at least it looked like her.  
Wearing huge rubber looking red twelve inch heels and a matching block-like dress was a woman with blunt cut white blonde hair and crazy red and black makeup. She grinned at Leo and I.  
We both looked at each other, freaking out.  
Since when did Lady Gaga impersonators make house calls?  
"You'll regret thinking so highly of yourself," she sneered, "You might say something you don't mean."  
"Ate," gasped Leo.  
The crazy chick the disappeared in a poof of scarlet smoke and reappeared on the other side of the room, gathered some of the junk in her hands and disappeared fully.  
"Oh no," said Leo, "Oh gods no!"  
"What?" I demanded, "What is it? What's happening? Who was that chick? What?"  
"Ate," repeated, making the word sound like A.T.  
"Wow thanks, that cleared things up!"  
"She's the goddess of fatal recklessness. Basically when a hero screws up because they don't think before they act of speak she makes sure it comes back to bite them," he explained.  
I flopped onto a heap of insulation lining, and groaned, "This suckssssssss."  
"Yeah, the fact that she took the bombs is worse," added Leo.  
"You say what now?"  
"Yeah she took a few of the bomb prototypes I was working on," said Leo staring blankly at the doorway.  
"No," I gasped.  
"And one of them has a mixture of Greek fire and nitrogen," he continued.  
"Which means?" I dared to ask.  
"A very large green mushroom cloud, and bye-bye Camp Half Blood," he said, his eye twitching.  
I sat up, "You're kidding."  
His eyes stay locked on the door.  
I stood up and shook him, "Dude, what do we do?"  
"Find her, apologize, pray, find shelter," he replied.  
"How do we find her?" I asked.  
An explosion answered me.  
"Schist," I replied, repeating a term I had heard Hazel use last year.  
Leo and I sprinted out of bunker nine.  
Another explosion, off to the north-west.  
"Well, this is the craziest bread crumb trial I've ever followed," I said, "You?"  
"Actually no, did I ever tell you about the time in Milwaukee?" he replied.  
Another explosion much larger.  
"We'll save that story for later," I replied and sprinted off in the direction of the explosion.  
In the distance I could hear shrieking, the high fangirlish cries of dryads. As I sprinted into a clearing one ran into me, her eyes bulging, "Water!" she screamed and darted away.  
Leo helped me up and we continued on, dodging frenzied dryads as we went.  
I could tell Leo was starting to panic, because bits of his hair were on fire and he was humming eye of the tiger.  
"Dude," I said, through shorts breathes, begins to feel smoke in my lungs, "calm down. We've got this. This honestly isn't the worst situation we've ever been in."  
"Yeah," he panted, "This is actually the second time I've come close to blowing up camp."  
"What?" I replied, dodging a falling tree limb, "You have really got to stop making explosives, or at least lock them up or something."  
He hurdled easily over a fallen log, "I actually blew up the Roman Camp once, but not all of it."  
"Yeah," I said, "Reyna told me about that."  
Leo stopped for a second, "She did?"  
I stopped along next to him, catching my breath, "Yeah, what's the big deal?"  
"Nothing," he replied, and then stared blankly into the distance ahead of us.  
Another explosion jarred me out of my confused daze, close by slightly to our left.  
Leo and I started running again, "They seem kind of all over the place, don't they?" I asked.  
"Yeah, but all heading North," replied Leo, who was now ahead of me, his stamina holding up better than mine.  
"If I was a crazy pop star looking goddess with multiple explosives where would I go?" I muttered, loud enough for Leo to hear.  
Suddenly Leo changed direction veering even harsh left cutting me off for a second; he looked back at me with wide eyes and said, "The Crater."  
"What?" I called up to him.  
"The biggest trap my cabin made when Festus Senior was going bonkers," he began to explain.  
"What?" I repeated, "I really should have listened to Annabeth when she told me about all the recent happenings."  
"Big dragon-went physco-my cabin set up traps-big craters left behind," panted Leo.  
"Alright," I said, still confused but I was pretty sure no matter how much he explained I wasn't going to fully understand.  
"It's not far!" he yelled, now yards ahead of me.  
I wanted to stop, take a break, I was seriously exhausted, and this guy had more endurance than any of the football players in my class. I began to wonder, does being part god make you automatically better at being human?  
If so than being a mortal sucked.  
More than usual.  
Another explosion made me flinch, I kept on getting distracted.  
Focus, Lea, focus, I told myself, and then let my mind wander.  
People from camp must already have heard the explosions and come running their top priority would be putting out the fires and helping the dryads. They didn't even know what was causing the explosions. I considered stopping and running back to tell everyone and letting them handle it, but that wasn't a very 'Chosen Savior of the World' thing to do.  
I groaned and pushed myself to catch up with Leo.  
Just in time, too.  
At first it was a spark of light, then a bonfire sized flame.  
I skidded in front of Leo, instincts kicking in, I slammed my right wrist, hearing the clink notifying me that my shield was unfolding and pulled Leo close to me.  
I grabbed him by one suspender, pinning him to my side, and raising the shield above our heads, like a crazy intense umbrella.  
I knew he was invulnerable to flame but I wasn't so sure about flying pieces of shrapnel.  
Dirt, tree branches, loose explosive parts and fire rained down on us, wrapping us in an inferno heat.  
Leo instinctually wrapped his arm around me protectively, and I curled into him protecting my face, the only vulnerable part of myself at the moment.  
Thank Hephaestus for the armor, or else I would have been ultra crispy fried.  
Leo let go of me, and I lowered my shield looking around.  
We were on the rim of a large but shallow crater, about a hundred feet in diameter.  
In the middle stood Lady Ate, in a new outfit of course. This one appeared to be made out of random armor pieces stuck into a ballerina-esque tutu dress, with a gauntlet tophat.  
She held two identical explosive devices.  
"Lea," she cooed, "Come here, I have challenge for you."  
At the moment I was feeling up for any challenges, a glass of water maybe but no challenges.  
"You choose the fate of your Camp, choose one. One will be returned, the other detonated. Let's hope you get it right," she called up to me.  
"You know what?" I replied, "I'm already choosing the fate of the world, I think Imma let an expert handle this one. Leo, you down with that?"  
He grinned at me, then at Ate, "The one in your left hand."  
Ate smirked, and tossed him the left one.  
Then she pressed as small button on the remaining one and vaporized.  
Once again I tucked into Leo, him placing the second explosive directly behind my shield, where it would be best protected.  
The explosion roared around us, relatively small compared to the one before.  
It died almost instantly.  
I fell back onto the dirt, relieved.  
"How'd you know?" I said looking over at Leo who was lying beside me.  
He pointed at a small strip of red, "She forgot to take the warning tape off."  
He laughed and I laughed with him, until it hurt, ash poured down on us like soft apocalyptic snow.  
"We'd better get going, the other campers will be here soon and I want a fantabulous debut of your new armor," said Leo.  
"And you don't think epically walking away from an explosion is fantabulous enough," I replied, accepting Leo hand up.  
"Hmmm, for you," he said, "Not quite."


	7. Chapter 7

Leo and I walked quietly back to camp, every once in a while I had to stop and lean against a tree to stop the coughing fits, but other than that I was physically unharmed.  
"So, are you excited for the tournament tomorrow?" asked Leo, making small talk.  
"Hardly," I replied, "I was until about thirty minutes ago."  
"I don't think Ate will bother you again, she made her point," said Leo.  
"Couldn't she have just talked to me?" I said, "Or at least had an elaborate light show performance."  
Leo snickered, "Yeah, she could have sang Born to Slay, and Just Do as your Told."  
We laughed for a little while, until I started to wheeze and cough up blood.  
"I'm going to need some water," I sighed.  
When we made it back to Bunker Nine, Leo gave me a coffee mug full of lukewarm water and I changed out of the armor. I kept the jumpsuit on, since it was light and comfortable and I didn't want to deal with putting my jeans back on. So instead I pulled my large sweatshirt over. I didn't want to bother with lacing back up my combat boots either so I just stayed sitting on the insulation material and watched Leo tinker. He bustled around, making minor adjustments to the armor and other objects strewn across the tables.  
After about five minutes there was a familiar clicking and whirring noise, and Festus Jr. flew down from the rafters, landing on my shoulder.  
He sneezed, spraying black oil all over my sweatshirt.  
I laughed thinking of when I first met Festus Jr, sitting on the bus next to Leo.  
Leo looked over at me and words spilled out of his, "I'm so sorry I haven't worked out that kink yet. I can get you a new sweatshirt."  
"Nah, its fine," I said, "Just clothes. Actually I think it's kinda cute that e does that, I mean nothings perfect and if you're gonna have a fault it might as well be an adorable sneeze."  
I played with Festus, letting my crawl over my body, climbing through my fingers, occasionally falling and gripping for dear life off of my forefinger. He reminded me of a little gold kitten.  
Leo stared at me, smiling and blushing; I pretend not to notice him and stayed with my focus on Festus. Eventually I started to feel a bit squirmy knowing that I was being looked at, and I looked back.  
Leo jumped back into action, talking quickly again, his accent growing stronger like it usually does when he gets nervous, "I'm sorry that he ditched out on you during the quest. He's hardwired to come and find me if I am out of a 100 mile range. Luckily, what that meant is that I knew you were a safe distance away for me to escape from Khione without her coming after you."  
"How'd you get out?" I asked, curiously.  
"Never leave a boy with his belt, especially not a magic tool belt," mused Leo, "And even more so in a prison full of ice."  
Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out a humongous hammer. By humongous I mean the head of it was like twelve inches.  
"Dude!" I exclaimed, "You're like a Latino Mary Poppins."  
We both laughed and I layed back down on the insulation.  
He and I stayed up past midnight, talking, laughing and sighing. Every few minutes he'd toss me a puzzle or and device he made, that I'd try to figure out, with of course no result, then he'd come explain it's genius to me.  
I fell asleep barefoot, nestled in the insulation material with weird gadgets scattered around me, the dim yellow light and sound of Leo working lulling me to sleep.  
When I woke, there was thick wool blanket over me and Leo was still working, sitting perched on stool, exactly how he'd been when I fell asleep.  
I rubbed my eyes, and yawned, "Leo, do you ever sleep? Like ever?"  
"Ah," he said, grinning at me, "Sleep is for mortals," and then he chugged down some coffee and went back to the metallic pair of wings he was working on. He had blue prints laid out next to him, all with the same triangle symbol that was on Annabeth's laptop.  
"What time is it?" I groaned.  
"11:30," replied Leo quickly.  
"What?" I gasped, slamming my hand down on the table making Leo jump, "The Tournament starts in a half an hour."  
"I was about to wake you up," said Leo, "but I didn't cause your breathing sounds really nice when you sleep," he added quietly.  
"Thanks," I replied slightly annoyed and slightly embarrassed, "I take a lot of pride in my sleep breathing."  
Leo didn't look up at me, he just pointed to a platter on the table.  
It was stacked with donuts and bacon.  
"Are you trying to fatten me?" I said through a full mouth as I stuffed the food into my mouth, "If you are than thank you, this stuff tastes amazing. I haven't had bacon in weeks!"  
He laughed and I rushed over to the dressing room, whipping my stained sweatshirt off on the way there. I strapped on the leg armor, synching it tight, and pulled on the boots, falling over backwards into some scrap wood. I danced around the workshop trying to pull on the armor as quickly as I could, it would take at least ten minutes to get to the arena, and I didn't want to be late.  
Leo helped me pull on the chest armor, "I'm turning off the sensitivity," he said, spinning down a dial on a matching gold remote, so it going to be all you out there in the arena."  
I nodded and I placed the crown/face armor thing as I looked in the mirror. I pulled my hair up and couldn't help but smile at myself; I looked awesome, just fantastic. I had finally grown out of my awkward tween years and now I actually looked like a hero, shining in gold.  
I spun around on my heel and threw my arms around Leo, "Thank you, you're the best," and I kissed him on the cheek.  
I sprinted out of the Bunker hoping that Leo, didn't take the kiss to seriously, it was a heat of the moment, pre-battle adrenaline rush kiss, totally platonic.  
At least I think it was.  
I stopped by my cabin dropped off my clothes from yesterday, throwing them in the corner of the room, just in time to hear the conch be blown.  
I activated my sword and shield, making myself fully battle ready, tightened my ponytail which wasn't really necessary but it calmed me down.  
Festus Jr. met me halfway to the arena, perching on my shoulder I noticed he had a small scroll of paper tied to his left paw so I untied it and in messy pencil scrawl it read:  
Good luck. Stomp some faces in for me- Leo  
I laughed to myself, and said to Festus Jr. "A messenger now, are you?"  
He made a satisfied whirring noise and I continued my jog to the arena.  
There was already a large crowd gathered when I entered the arena.  
I felt like Cinderella walking into the ball, every head turned and all eyes were on me.  
I managed to keep a serious face and only blush a little as the crowd parted for me.  
I heard Connor whistle from the crowd, and I gave him a half-appreciative, half- 'shut up I hate you,' smile.  
The other competitors were already in the arena, in casual armor. Percy and Jason were at Camp Jupiter and Nico was gone so I wouldn't have to fight them, which was fortunate, since they were all extremely skilled and I'd feel a bit weird attacking my friends.  
There was Will Solace from the Apollo cabin, a ginger boy from the Dionysus cabin, a skinny Asian girl from the Demeter cabin, and a blonde boy from Aphrodite; those should all be easy takedowns.  
There was also the tall brunette boy from the Athena cabin, Clarisse, Lance, Travis and few others from the other minor gods. Chiron had said that if you were from a cabin that only had one child, you are allowed to forfeit one event, and it looked like a lot of people had backed out of this one.  
Lance looked at me disapprovingly, also somewhat confused by my new outfit.  
"Nice outfit," said the blonde Aphrodite boy suavely, "I'm guessing it's not for purchase."  
"No," I replied, "Plus I think it'd be a bit small on you anyways," I said as I observed his very nice muscular build.  
He chuckled, and spun his bronze short-sword lazily.  
Before we cold converse anymore, Chiron walked into the arena, and stomped his hoof. The sound echoed of the marble and everyone quieted immediately.  
"We will begin with two fights at once, as you can see the arena has been sectored off into equal portions. There is no penalty for stepping over the line but it is recommended you stay on your side in order to avoid gaining more enemies. The basic rule is attack who ever is on your side of the line, if you get them into a position where you could end there life easily, you win. We will begin with the four cabins who's lineage is known for battle skills, Kevin Trave fighting for the Athena cabin vs. Clarisse la Rue from the Ares cabin in sector one. In sector two we will have Carter Bent, son of Enyo and Cassy Hilger daughter of the Titaness Themis.  
I sat in the stands next to Travis and Will as we all watched intensely, our attention being drawn to the fight between Clarisse and the Athena boy. After few minutes of parrying he took her down, it was obvious that her cabin had ignored the fact that Clarisse was best with a spear and sent her out anyways. The Ares cabin nearly exploded with anger, cursing out Clarisse for being a bad champion, the Athena boy for 'cheating' and everyone else for being stupid.  
There was bit more competition between Carter and Cassy. Carter appeared to be about thirteen and was thin and light with pale blue eyes and soft ginger hair, Cassy on the other hand was about sixteen, short and muscular with wavy brunette hair. She won the match by feinting to the right, ducking under his swing and slamming him in the back with the hilt of her sword. As he lay on the ground groaning, she put the tip of her sword to his neck, notifying his of her victory.  
Chiron announced the winners and then said, "The victors will take a break as new champions battle, thus determining the future rounds."  
He looked down at us cautiously, "Next up we have Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin vs. Kyle Felner from the Aphrodite cabin."  
"Go get em" I said to Travis slapping him on the back and he stood up, "Take down that pretty boy."  
"In sector two Marc Jovei of the Dionysus cabin vs. Lea Reclin from the Morpheus cabin."  
Travis winked and pointed at me, his was of saying "Back at ya."  
I strided down the steps, my armor gleaming in the mid-day sun.  
Marc looked at me nervously, sweating from under curly dark red hair.  
"Don't worry bro," I said, "I'll go easy."  
"Thanks," he replied quietly.  
"Would you rather I make it look like you put up a fight or get it over quickly," I asked, under my breath, so as not to embarrass him.  
"Quickly please," he sighed.  
"Let the match begin," said Chiron, and I sprung into action.  
Marc and I's swords clashed instantly. He swung shakily, all of the people watching him made him nervous. We parried for a few seconds, then he lunged and I feinted right, sliding behind him and carefully placing my blade to his neck, so as not to hurt him.  
Chiron announced me as the winner and Marc slumped back into the crowd full of booing Dionysus children.  
I went and took my place in the stands and watch Travis. He was doing well; having practiced a lot but Kyle was also very skilled.  
When Travis accidentally tripped over Kyle's outstretched foot (a dirty move in my opinion) Kyle slammed down on Travis' back taking him fully to the ground, groaning in pain, Kyle used his foot to roll Travis onto his back and then held the tip of his sword at Travis' throat.  
Chiron announced Kyle the winner and Travis stayed on the ground as Kyle walked back grinning to his cabin.  
I got up and walked into the arena, helping Travis up, it looked like he had landed on his arm wrong and sprained it.  
"Kick his butt for me," groaned Travis as we sat down.  
"Trust me, I will," and then I let the Apollo cabin tend to Travis' arm.  
"Up next we have Kimberly Doubt for the Demeter cabin and Maria Martinez for the Hecate cabin. Remember special abilities are not allowed, swords only," I had feeling Chiron was talking specifically to Maria, "In section two we have Lance Beckett representing the Hephaestus Cabin and Will Solace Representing the Apollo cabin."  
Lance sauntered out onto the court adjusting his armor straps carelessly. He looked so smug I just wanted to punch right then and there.  
He was tall, with deep tan skin and black hair combed back like a greaser. He had shiny black eyes and thick full lashes. Just like all other Hephaestus kids his hands were calloused and strong. He carried huge bronze sword and even larger bronze shield. Together the metal must've weighed at least fifty pounds but he carried it like someone might carry a stuffed animal.  
The entire crowd feel silent, this would be a good match. Two seventeen year old strong guys-going one on one.  
"Begin," said Chiron.  
Immediately, Lance swung his sword, whacking Will in the face with the side of the blade. Will fell to the ground and Lance grabbed his left arm, pulling it back making will scream.  
From the crowd I heard Cloe, yell, "Will!"  
She scrambled through the crowd shoving people out of the way, which was extremely out of character for her.  
She dived into the arena, only to meet Lance's sword.  
He had the tip placed under her chin, and she stood perfectly still until Chiron said, "Lance, you have won," and Lance lowered his blade.  
Cloe flung herself down next to Will, brushing his hair out of his face and whispering softly to him, it looked as if his arm was badly hurt. Lance had bended it back pretty far.  
Will's cabin mates rushed in to help him, as he groaned and rubbed his shoulder.  
My face grew hot with anger, it was one thing to fight dirty, but it was another thing to threaten my friends.  
I tried to distract myself by watching the other team.  
Kim and Maria on the other hand were more evenly matched; they circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move.  
Kim dove forward and Maria used the trick I had taught her, she spun to the side, knocking the blade past her body with her forearm. Kim caught on quicker than I expected and swung low at Maria's ankles. Maria dodged just in time to avoid loosing her feet.  
They went on for a while longer tiring themselves out until, Maria ducked under Kim blade and swung her sword up to Kim's throat.  
Maria was declared the winner of the round and I gave her an encouraging thumbs up.  
"Alright," said Chiron, "We are now moving onto the next round, the arena in no longer divided into two, and once again we have Cassy Hilger vs. Kevin Trave."  
"Ohh," said Kyle from behind me, "A demi-Titaness and the son of Athena."  
Since I didn't know anyone personally for this round I got up and got myself some water from one of the huge Giantade tubs. By the time I turned around Cassy already had Kevin on the ground.  
That chick was five feet of pure brutality. I hoped I wouldn't have to fight her.  
Even Chiron seemed a little unsettled, "Right," he began, "Cassy wins. Up next we have Lea Reclin vs. Kyle Felner."  
I took another sip of water, crumpled the plastic cup and tossed into the trash bin.  
Kyle stood up and grinned at me from the stands.  
We both took our time making our way down to the arena.  
"Let's see if you're as good as your armor," cooed Kyle.  
"Let's see how easily nice face like yours can get smashed in, we can do a little experiment," I hissed, "You know, for science."  
"Begin," announced Chiron.  
Kyle immediately jabbed at me with his longsword; I jumped out of the way rolling through the dirt. I crouched like a cat for a second, and then sprang, tackling him. He threw me off easily, and I skidded through the dust.  
"Get em'!" yelled Travis from the crowd.  
"Break his face," added Connor.  
I stood up.  
We were staring each other down, him not wanting to work too hard and myself not wanting to make a stupid rash move because of my anger.  
"You're going down, pretty boy," I growled at him. Our swords met and I glared into his hazel eyes for a second, it was his strength against mine, his sword slid slowly down my blade, my I didn't loose eye contact with him, I just needed one second of distraction.  
Suddenly there was a 'chink' noise; his blade had slid down to one of the half-circle cutout in my blade. I used this brief lull in the action and the grip and spun my sword full 360, wrenching his sword out of his hands, I then slammed the hilt of my sword into his forehead, "That's for Travis. Next time wear a helmet, your face isn't that great."  
The entire Aphrodite cabin booed, except Piper who I could barely see in the crowd, but I could tell she was grinning. I knew she and I both had a thing for taking down pompous drama-queens.  
"Lea Reclin wins," announced Chiron, he sounded a bit like he was happy too, but trying to hide it for the sake of neutrality.  
I sat down next to Travis and Connor and was enveloped into their arms.  
They tousled my hair and congratulated me.  
My breath was running short and refused to come back, I laid back on the stone step, letting the coolness of the marble sink into my skin.  
Chiron said something, but I couldn't hear him over my heartbeat in my ears.  
From the crowd there was eruption of boos, I sat up to see Maria shakily getting to her feet, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.  
With him back turned to the crowd was Lance, looming over Maria.  
"I surrender," she spat at him, wiping the blood away with her wrist.  
"Lance has won the round for Hephaestus, and will participate in the final round," confirmed Chiron, Lea Reclin vs. Cassy Hilger."  
I gulped; Cassy whipped her head around and smiled at me. There was a bloodthirsty shine in her eyes, like in her head she was saying, "I'm going to rip you apart, isn't that just great?"  
I hesitantly picked up my sword and walked into the middle of the arena.  
Instantly Cassy sprung from her spot on the stairs, hurling at me for a panther-like tackle.  
I stop-drop- and rolled, using the technique that I was required to perfect on 'Fire Safety Day' back in elementary school.  
Cassy flew over me, and I jumped back to my feet.  
She rolled into a landing, turning it into a back-walkover so that she too was on her feet again.  
I felt a bit shown up, like I need to do some acrobatics to prove myself or something.  
Cassy lunged at me, swinging wide, instantly a flashback shot through my head. It was of a counselor named Randy teaching me battle tactics as practice for Battle Royale, when I was eight. I was his 'secret weapon' I trained for weeks with him perfecting my sword fighting for the next five years. Henry had convinced Randy to give me special classes. In retrospect I think Randy and Henry might have been step brothers, because Randy was way too good at archery to not be a son of Apollo. I feel like Henry was preparing me for the demigod life long before I had discovered my lineage.  
As Cassy swung at me, I remembered the move that Randy had shown me, 'the duck and slice' he called it. Which wasn't a great name, but it worked.  
I slid forward on my knees, letting Cassy's blade pass over my head, and with my sword I slashed through her side. Not deep enough to badly wound her, just to distract her for a minute.  
Then I stepped up behind her, using the trick I'd used on Percy so many times and put my sword to her throat.  
"Lea Reclin will be going on to the final round!" announced Chiron looking relived that I hadn't gotten destroyed by Cassy but a little worried that Cassy might not take her loss well.  
I lowered my sword and offered Cassy and handshakes, which she took graciously and said, "Good fight, sorry about your side."  
She shrugged, grinning, "No big deal, just a nick," she said as the blood poured down her side.  
"Yeah you might want to let the Apollo cabin tend to that," I offered and she walked away still smiling dazedly.  
I was way too tired, I was about to vomit up my lungs.  
What I really needed was some ambrosia; unfortunately I didn't feel like getting up or spontaneously combusting at the moment.  
Chiron stamped his hoof for quiet, "We'll have a short intermission and then Lea Reclin and Lance Beckett will fight for the title of Champion."  
I nearly choked on my saliva; the final round would be between Lance and I?  
Gods, that is exactly what I DIDN'T want to happen.  
Lance grinned at me from across the arena and my heart stopped, he was looking really confident while I felt like a sack of potatoes.  
I got some more water, choked on it a little and basically established myself as an idiot.  
The five minutes flew by, Travis and Connor gave me the best pep-talk they could and then slapped me on the back and shoved me into the arena.  
Lance sauntered out into the arena, grinning.  
"Begin," said Chiron ominously, I looked up at him nervously and he nodded reassurance; as if to say, "I won't let him kill you…much."  
WHAM!  
Something very large, metal, and heavy slammed into my forehead.  
The metal headpiece prevented a dent in my skull but cut deep into my skin.  
I flew back, landing hard on my back and head, blood trickling into my eyes, destroying my vision.  
I began to roll to the side to get up but I was too slow, my combat boot collided into my stomach, knocking the wind even further out of me.  
"Nice armor," sneered Lance.  
I tried to say something witty and sarcastic but all that came out was a cough, and then a groan because I was sad that I couldn't say anything witty and sarcastic.  
Lance snickered.  
I was tired to get up, to do anything really. I didn't have to win this, the Hephaestus cabin would be really happy if they did. Plus, I wasn't even here enough to do chores anyways.  
Suddenly, Lance swung at me. My arm flew up and I blocked automatically.  
Well, I didn't, it wasn't my instinct that saved me, it was the suit.  
Lance suddenly looked confused as armor propped me upright.  
I was practically a puppet, the armor moving for me.  
I glanced up in the stands to see Leo with what looked like a golden X-box controller matching to my armor; he cranked up a dial and then gave me a thumbs up.  
I shook my head at him, a silent "No, no stop, I really don't-"  
Lance swung at me again, angry this time.  
I auto-blocked spinning his blade out, and doing a quick Chennai turn into a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.  
The crowd cheered so loud I didn't even hear Lance hit the ground.  
My arm swung locking into place with my sword at his throat.  
"Cheater," he muttered, then he said it again, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Cheater. She cheated."  
The crowd erupted into gasps and boos.  
"Lair!" defended Connor.  
"I beg your pardon?" asked Chiron, staring at Lance.  
"That's automated armor, she wasn't doing the fighting it was!" he yelled.  
The crowd screamed in anger and disbelief.  
I felt the armor, power down, losing it rigidity.  
I was nice to have my limbs back.  
I raised my hands to the crowd, "It's true. I'm sorry I didn't want it to do that! I really didn't."  
The crowd scoffed at me, even my friends looked a little miffed. Especially Travis, who felt a little embarrassed about defending me.  
Suddenly from the crowd, Leo stood up and yelled, "It was me! I turned the auto-fight on! She had no control of her actions!"  
I sighed in relief.  
I wouldn't be in this alone.  
Chiron thought for a minute, and then he stamped his hoof three times, in an attempt to silence the audience.  
"Lea Reclin will not be disqualified. The match will be announced a tie, since neither champions are in a state to fight," he proclaimed.  
"Yes I am!" yelled Lance, but he was shushed by Chiron disapproving glare.  
"Leo Valdez, however, will be disqualified from the entire tournament, because after all he was the one doing the cheating."  
Leo shrugged.  
I don't think he was planning on competing anyways.  
"That concludes this round of the Olympics, up next is Chariot Racing," said Chiron, and campers began to file out.  
I went over got some water and layed on the marble steps.  
After a while it was silent.  
Just as I was beginning to feel peace somebody cleared their throat.  
My eyes shot open only to find Henry.  
He looked down and me and said seriously, "We need to talk."


	8. Chapter 8

"Henry," I sputtered, "I didn't mean to, I didn't want to. I really didn't- "  
"Lea," he interrupted.  
"Dad," I tried to cut in.  
"How long have I known you?" he asked, his face softening.  
"Almost nine years now," I replied.  
"How well do you think I know you?" he asked, sitting next to me, staring at me with his rich brown eyes.  
"Better than I know myself," I replied, laughing a little.  
"Therefore, I know you didn't mean to cheat," he replied, "We all get caught up in things. It's not a big deal and it is certainly not what I came here to talk to you about."  
I sighed in relief.  
"What I came here for was to give you this," he said, pulling out a small jewelry sized box.  
But I knew it wasn't jewelry, Henry new me too well to get me that. Plus I was kind of stuck wearing my crown necklace. Nico had helped me put it on just after we left Olympus and I found out this morning that the latch had mysteriously disappeared, sealing the chain around my neck.  
Henry continued, "I got them for you for Christmas. Well…got is a simple way of saying tracked down, killed a few dracaenas and argued with a hippie daughter of Apollo for three hours in order to find. I was going to give them to you on Christmas Morning, but I think the sooner you have them the better. They're not of any use in a box."  
He handed the small purple box to me and I untied the silver ribbon, tying it up into my hair. Then opened the lid.  
Sitting on purple satin were two pink dice.  
"Erm thanks," I said.  
I had no idea what I was going to with a pair of pink personalized dice. I don't even know any games that involve dice besides yahtzee and I had the feeling two wouldn't be enough.  
Henry chuckled, "They're called oracle dice. Give em a roll."  
I gently tossed the dice onto the ground, letting them roll of my fingers.  
They landed softly, one tilting to one side and then flipping over unnaturally to the other.  
"Double ones," whispered Henry, "Your in luck, they have something to show you. Something in the near future."  
Green mist began to seep from the dice forming a small cloud above the dice.  
The image shimmered, I could see Half-Blood Hill, around sunset, a teenage girls figure walking up the crest, she stopped stroked Thalia's tree, and then I could make out her face. It was Annabeth, she smiled warmly, glad to be home, and stepped over the boundary.  
"Whoa," I muttered.  
"Pretty cool," agreed Henry, "It'll come in handy when you go on a quest."  
"You know about the quest?" I asked, baffled that he found out about it.  
"Well, now I do," he said chuckling, "Going undercover?"  
"Oh," I said feeling stupid, well at least it was just Henry, "Yeah, I'm supposed to stop The Great Stirring. It's a bunch of mini-quests to get these super important staff pieces. Basically save the world again, hopefully for the last time."  
"I see," he replied.  
"Actually," I said, thinking as I spoke, "I need to someone to come along with me. I'm sure you and I could work well together."  
Henry looked a little surprised, "Nahh, you wouldn't want an old geezer like me dragging you down. Plus I'd have to get your mother's permission; she's in charge of whether or not I help save the world. You know how she is."  
"Dude, Henry," I replied laughing, "You're like thirty-five."  
He grinned at me, nudging me with his shoulder, "Well, I can't go with you just yet. I promised Chiron I'd take his place for two weeks, beginning next Saturday. He's going to a Party Pony Reunion. He's nominated for an award. What the award is for, I don't know."  
"That's cool. I still don't even know where I'm going next. I'll keep you updated," I replied, standing up, "I'm going to go get changed this leather is starting to meld with my skin."  
I hugged him, he always smelled like a mix between coffee, campfire and cinnamon.  
I scooped up the dice and walked out of the arena, turning back to wave at him as he readjusted the bow and quiver slung across his back.  
I changed out of the armor, setting it on top of my dresser with my silver traditional breastplate, I longed to wear it again, but I needed to give it to Leo first so he could make sure it wasn't tampered with by Lance.  
I guess now was as good of time as any; the sun would be setting soon. I zipped up my magenta hoodie and stepped out the door, my armor in mist form in my hand. I jogged to Bunker Nine; Leo wasn't there so I jotted down a note on a piece of paper in my barely readable scrawl and left. The dinner bell would be ringing soon.  
Just as I exited the forest, the sun was beginning to cast golden rays of light over the grass, I looked to the west. A teenage girls figure walking up the crest, she stopped stroked Thalia's tree.  
"Annabeth!" I called running up to her.  
I hug tackled her, repaying her for all the times she'd done it to me.  
We laughed happily for a while, not even bothering to say hello.  
"Expecting me were you?" she asked.  
"In a way," I replied.  
She lifted an eyebrow but didn't ask she looked pretty tired. The drive over here must have been long.  
I walked with her to her cabin and then helped her unpack, sort of, she doesn't really like anyone touching her stuff so I mostly just stood there until she handed me something and told me where to put it. We talked about the tournament and she empathized with me, which was nice, she understood.  
Almost instantly after when finished packing the dinner bell rang and she smiled at me, "Meet me at the dock."  
"But…food," I protested.  
She laughed, "Don't worry I have something better in mind."  
"Better than food?" I questioned.  
"The similarities between you and Percy never cease to amaze me," she said, "Don't worry, food will be included."  
"I'm down," I agreed and then she left leaving me to stand awkwardly in the Athena cabin, not knowing what to do with my few minutes spare time.  
After scanning a few blueprints I headed out to the dock, and sat with my feet over the edge.  
I almost expected to see Mea here again, but I knew she was still back at Poseidon's palace working as his assistant.  
I stared down at my reflection in the water; I hardly looked like myself anymore. My once round and chubby face was almost gaunt, I had dark shadows under my eyes which were now a dull blue. Granted I was probably more beautiful according to societal standards, being thinner and more womanly, but I was so boring. It looked like someone had drained all of the color out of me, my streaks were completely gone now and even my tattoo seemed faded.  
My thoughts were interrupted by Annabeth who flung herself down beside me, "She said she'll be here in three minutes. You like Chow Fun right?"  
I stared at her for a minute, how could she even ask that question?  
Of course I like Chow fun.  
She understood my expression and smiled, "Dumb question."  
We laughed and kicked up lake water with out toes, splashing each other, I had to fight the urge to shove her in, but a soaking Annabeth is a dangerous Annabeth.  
She and I talked for the next few minutes; she told me all about applying to colleges and how badly she wants to get into Harvard or Yale.  
When she asked me what college I was looking into, I scared myself a little.  
I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  
For so long I'd been focusing on getting good grades and not being eaten by monsters I hadn't even thought of a career.  
Annabeth assured me that this was alright, I had time, but it began to weigh on me.  
Usually people choose whatever career applies to their skills, but there isn't exactly a fork-throwing and sword-fighting university is there?  
My train of thought was interrupted by a subtle clinking noise.  
I turned to see Thalia, decked in chains and spikes, her beautiful modern day armor, standing with three boxes of takeout in her arms.  
"I come bearing food," she said grinning.  
"Oh my gods, I love you," I said scrambling to my feet and towards her.  
"Ditto," agreed Annabeth.  
I flung myself onto her, hugging her tightly and then snatching a box from her hands.

We all sat in a circle on the dock sharing/stealing each others food and gossiping about the past year.  
Annabeth went on and on about the Modern Design class she was taking until Thalia stuffed a wonton in her mouth. Thalia talked about the Hunters and how they were tracking this special bull she last saw in Utah and I told them about my date with Nico and the craziness that happened at Homecoming (long story).  
It was one of the best meals I'd had in a while, especially because back home my mom was working and I'm no chef so most of meals were either Top Ramen or Top Ramen.  
After we'd all finished eating each other's food Thalia looked up at me, pursing her lips in frustration.  
"What's up?" I asked.  
"My dad called me earlier today," she replied.  
"What did he want?" I asked.  
"He wants to talk to you," she sighed, "He said it was really important."  
All of us groaned simultaneously.  
"Gods, why'd he use you as the messenger monkey, he could have just asked me himself," I spat.  
"That's just it," said Thalia, "He specifically wanted all three of us to be there."  
We groaned some more.  
"Ugh," I said, "Do we really have to go all the way to Olympus? I don't feel like driving anywhere."  
"Nor do I," agreed Annabeth.  
"Well," said Thalia, "It's not like we can just ignore him."  
"Can't we?" I begged.  
Thalia chuckled.  
"If he's so almighty powerful why can't he just zap us onto Olympus?" I asked.  
"Actually," replied Thalia, "That's not a bad idea. Dad?"  
Suddenly, the sky grew a dark churning purple and then there was a flash of light.  
I fell onto the cold marble floor, my jaw slamming into the ground.  
I stood up cursing, and met Zeus's eternally disapproving glare.  
"Thanks for the lift," I said, "Next time set out some pillows or something."  
He ignored my comment, "Welcome girls."  
We all stared expectantly at him, none of us replied.  
He looked slightly unsettled, cleared his throat awkwardly and then began, "Lea, it is time for you to find the second component of the staff. First bring forth the ring."  
I pulled the ring off my finger, which felt kind of weird, since I'd been wearing it a few days and hardly even noticed it was there anymore.  
I placed it in Zeus' palm and stepped back, when it touched Zeus' skin it glowed dimly then a ray of light projected upwards from it, first it showed a map of America like before then it zoomed in on the west coast, focusing in a Seattle, Washington. The image shimmered and then changed into the Space Needle, zooming in on the rod at the very top.  
Thalia, Annabeth and I gaped at it.  
The image flickered then disappeared; Zeus stood, and nodded at Annabeth.  
Annabeth walked to the center of the room, the converging point of the sparkly marble floor and placed her hand in the very center.  
Beams of golden light shot up from the floor, every star in the marked out constellations on the floor lit up.  
Where Annabeth placed her hand, spun open like and camera lens, and up from the hole came a podium only a foot in radius.  
Zeus placed the ring onto the podium, and it lowered back into the floor.  
"Whoa," I gasped.  
"The Safe of the Gods," said Annabeth, "Lea, what was that ring?"  
"The Gift of Neptune," I said, "I'll explain later."  
"Yes," agreed Zeus, "You must spend as little time here as you can, so as not to draw attention."  
"Why should I come?" asked Thalia.  
"You all have an essential role to play," explained Zeus, "Thalia, you know I wouldn't put you in danger unless it was absolutely nessacary."  
Thalia rolled her eyes, "Yeah, just like you were for the first twelve years of my life."  
Zeus looked hurt but continued, "As incentive and reward for all of you, I have procured these."  
Three small square of laminated paper appeared in his hands.  
Thalia took them quickly and read what they said.  
"Imagine Drakons tickets," she whispered, "No way."  
"Front row seats," said Zeus with a smile that disrupted his face.  
"Cool, we'll leave for Seattle in the morning," said Annabeth, "You okay with us taking a plane, right?"  
I looked over at Thalia, who suddenly seemed overwhelmed with panic.  
"Hardly," said Zeus.  
"What?" I sputtered, "You don't expect us to drive there do you?"  
"Don't be silly," he replied then he snapped his fingers and there was another flash of light.  
Luckily this time my landing was soft.  
I fell onto a large queen sized bed, with a muffled, "Ooof."  
It took a minute for me to comprehend what happened, and then I looked outside the well furnished room's window to see the Seattle Space Needle glowing only a few blocks away.  
I looked at Thalia and Annabeth, and then at the five star hotel room we were sitting in.  
With lots of squealing we dance around the room, even though we were there for a sucky reason it did not damper the fact we were at least twenty story's high in a high class hotel Suite. We ran and jumped across the three Scarlett and black queen sized beds, throwing pillows at each other.  
"We're in Seattle!" I shrieked.  
"We're seeing Imagine Drakons tomorrow night!" Yelled Thalia.  
"We get front row seats," added Annabeth, and then she whacked me with a throw pillow.  
We fell onto the scarlet, white and black satin sheets, laughing.  
"Gods," said Thalia, "If only all quests were like this, no cross-country car rides, no cheap motels, no weird side routes, just zap and you're across the country in a nice hotel."  
"Yeah," I replied, "I half-expect a monster to come flying through the window any minute now."  
There was a second of silence and anticipation as we all turned to look out the window, minutes passed and nothing happened.  
"This is the life," I said, jumping up and opening the mini-fridge, there was little cakes, soda, bottled nectar, and a little card that said, "Room Service and Full Restaurant open at all times: OLYMPIAN SUITES.  
"Dude,' I said, "I've heard of this place, it's like VIP headquarters for all the gods that want to stay on the west cost instead of Olympus."  
"And look," said Thalia, "They even brought our bags."  
"Oh my gods," I sighed happily, "I didn't even have to pack, this is amazing!"  
I unzipped my bag to find my traditional silver armor breastplate, new polished, a camp shirt, two tank tops, my favorite pair a jeans, two hoodies, a windbreaker and my messenger bag with forks. In the side pockets, there were all my toiletries and my sword and shield disk, and a launch-able grappling hook and some walkie-talkies.  
I pulled out the grappling hook and showed it to Annabeth and Thalia, confused. Thalia pulled out three pairs of climbing gloves, and climbing shoes from her side pocket and Annabeth checked her pocket to find a laser torch and three I.D. cards with our pictures on them.  
"Is it just me, "I said, or does it feel like these are our spy-gadgets for a top secret mission?"  
"No," said Thalia, trying on the neon blue and black pair of climbing shoes, "This definitely feels very Mission Impossible."  
She handed me the hot pink and black gloves and shoes and gave the gold and black ones to Annabeth.  
I threw off my converse, tossing them into the pile of unloaded clothes and slipped on the climbing shoes. They fit perfectly.  
"Well that's kinda creepy," I said, "and awesome."  
"It seems as if Zeus has this all planned out for us," said Annabeth, examining her shoes, "These are the best quality climbing shoes money can buy, you could practically climb up a wall with these things on."  
"Sweet," I said.  
Annabeth pulled out her laptop, and we sat in half circle looking at the screen, she pulled up a document from the desktop labeled, 'Seattle-Staff-Blueprint".  
The file expanded onto the LED screen displaying the blue print of the Space Needle, Annabeth zoomed in on the very top, and the lightning rod topping everything was marked as 'Celestial Staff-Part 2'.  
"You're kidding," I gaped.  
Annabeth did a full panorama spin around the tower and then said, "There doesn't appear to be any clear way of accessing the roof. We have two choices, go to the inner portion of the highest part of the building and somehow cut though the ceiling to get to the roof, which I personally don't recommend. And option two; go out on the patio, with all of the tourists and climb up onto the roof from there. This seems like the better idea, but we'd have to avoid all the mortals, and security, and then climb up a very slick roof with a curved ledge with out falling to our deaths."  
Thalia's eyes were wide with fear; she almost looked on the verge of tears.  
"And we'll need someone on the ground, keeping an eye out for monsters or security or any other interruption," I offered quickly.  
Thalia looked at me thankfully.  
"Yeah," agreed Annabeth absentmindedly, "I think I can manipulate the mist well enough to cover two people, three would be a risk."  
Thalia sighed with relief.  
I yawned and said, "I think we better get to bed, after all, we are climbing up the Seattle Space Needle tomorrow."  
I curled up in the blood red covers of the luscious bed and drifted into sleep listening to Thalia breathe from the bed next to me.  
I woke up to Annabeth making hot cocoa in the microwave, she handed me and Thalia and mug as we sat in bed. Outside in was cloud and gray, like I expected, it seemed as if Seattle was always wrapped in the same sweater of fog.  
I finished my cocoa, letting it warm me from the inside-out. Then I rolled out of bed, literally, letting myself flop onto the floor.  
I crawled over to my bag and changed into my grey-wash jeans, without standing, a skill I had mastered from many tired school mornings. I pulled on a tank top, a camp shirt, a hoodie and finally the windbreaker over all of that.  
While the others were distracted I pulled out the Oracle Dice Henry had given me the day before and rolled them, they landed on a two and a three. It looked like the gods weren't in the mood to give me any hints as to what the day would bring.  
Thalia ordered pancakes from room service and we feasted together, sitting on the floor.  
Afterwards, Annabeth packed up a bag with all of our gear and we began the short walk to the Space Needle.  
As we meandered through the streets, Annabeth listed off facts about the Space Needle and how it was built.  
We arrived at the base of the space needle after about fifteen minutes, tourists bustled around us, telling each other to hurry up or slow down.  
We stopped at a round fountain at the entrance.  
For a minute Thalia, Annabeth and I stared up at the huge structure.  
My brain went into hyper drive, my conscious pressing all the "Nope, don't go there," buttons it could find.  
My knees locked and I could feel my lip shaking, both from cold and fear.  
I looked over to Annabeth, and she gave me a look that clearly said, "Eh, I've done crazier things."  
This in turn made me realize, that I too, had done even more insane stunts before.  
I turned to Thalia and said jokingly, "Any chance Jason is in town?"  
I could've really used him as a safety net.  
"If only," she replied, "He could just fly up there and get it."  
"Yeah," I sighed, "Wait, why isn't he here?"  
"Camp Jupiter is being plagued by Keres," explained Annabeth, "Percy left yesterday morning to help out; they want all praetors to be there."  
"Oh, well I wish them luck. We all know how annoying the Keres can be," I said, and Thalia and Annabeth nodded in agreement.  
There was a moment of silence, and then I sped out ahead, ignoring the voices in my head that were screaming things like, "No! Stop! Bad Idea! This won't end well!"  
I slammed open the glass doors, Annabeth and Thalia followed me into the nicely heated foyer.  
There was small amount of security, but our supplies were made by Hephaestus, himself, I'm guessing, so they were unseen by metal detectors.  
I turned to Thalia, "Wait here," I said, "Make sure nobody suspicious comes in."  
"Got it," she replied, "No gods, no centaurs, no giants, nothing."  
Annabeth and I wove through people to get to the tiny metallic elevator; she began to tell me about the suspension works.  
I tuned her out, the blood pulsing through my ears to loud to hear her anyways.  
I hadn't done something like this since I was half-god. Since then all of my strengths had decreased, most fading completely.  
The long ride in a tin box didn't help my nerves; Annabeth didn't seem to be fazed at all. She must be used to this kind of thing; she was a war veteran with eleven years of experience.  
To me she was like an older sister, beautiful and intelligent, someone to look up to. She was the perfect mix of feminity and fierceness that I strived to be.  
She continued to list off facts as we stepped out of the elevator into a large circular room.  
Annabeth turned to me and said, "Okay, let's find the patio."  
We wandered through a gift shop, and a restaurant, I stopped to snatch a bag of Sour Patch Kids off a rack and place five dollars on the counter.  
I nibbled as we walked, letting the sourness burn into my tongue, the sweet familiar pain calm me.  
Eventually we found one of the doors to the outside lookout.  
I opened the glass door and stepped into the chilly Seattle air.  
You could see half the city from up here and part of the bay the curled around Seattle.  
Annabeth nodded at me, and I began to unpack, I watched as she bent the mist carefully. She masked us on all sides, especially through the window. We didn't want any tourists looking outside to see us climbing.  
I nibbled on the Sour Patch Kids as I looked around.  
There were steel cables forming a sort of netting around the outside, so that nobody could fall over the edge of the railing.  
The wires were about a foot apart horizontally forming a perfect ladder.  
All I had to do now was cut through one of the wires to create an opening big enough for Annabeth and I to get to the outside through.  
I let Annabeth reinforce the mist as I pulled out the small laser torch.  
I flicked the small safety switched on the sides of the little metal device and pressed the blue button causes the cobalt flame to flick out.  
I carefully melted through the second wire above the railing and whispered to Annabeth when I was done.  
She nodded at me, and quickly tied her hair up into a ponytail, like mine. We both pulled on our climbing shoes quickly, and I zipped my wind breaker all of the way up.  
I was beginning to get windy, and that worried me.  
I glanced inside of the window, Annabeth's mist was working. Tourists would look outside see nothing and keep moving, a few came up to the door and then acted as if there was no handles and went to find another way out to the patio. Those who did walk out of the doors that were on either sides of ours, would suddenly act as if it was freezing cold and raining outside and immediately walk back in.  
Just as I finished putting on my left shoes I saw a group of kids, ages six to fifteen, walking around the room wearing shirts that said 'Happy Fun times and Learning Camp', which sounded like a fairly oxymoronic name to me. Generally I didn't put 'happy fun time' and 'learning' together in a sentence. All of them looked bored except one, she stared at Annabeth and I with wide blue eyes displaying an expression of horror. She poked her friend and pointed at us, but her friend just shrugged her off.  
I quickly reached into the backpack and pulled out a Camp Half-Blood business card and placed it just under the door.  
She watched me, confused and terrified.  
I winked and then picked up the walkie-talkie.  
"Thalia," I said, "It's Lea, we about to go onto the roof. Oh and by the way, I think we've got an undiscovered demi-god up here. She's got chop cut red hair and she's part of the fun time camp. Keep your eye out."  
"Got it," replied Thalia's voice crackling with static.  
I stuffed a few more Sour Patch Kids in my mouth, then tucked the bag into my backpack, I would finish enjoying them later.  
Then I slipped on the climbing gloves, stood, slinging my backpack on, clipping it in the front, and shoved myself through the hole in the wires.  
I gripped onto the cables stepping carefully from one to the next, the wind pulled at my hair angrily.  
Thanks to the grip shoes I never lost my footing as I climbed over the top of the observation deck, and onto the slick roof top. Annabeth was close behind.  
The roof wasn't steep, but there was no hand or footholds whatsoever.  
Annabeth tried to say something to me, but the wind drowned her voice out.  
It felt like we were in the middle of an ice cold twister, and trust me I knew what that felt like, but down below there was no evidence of wind. The trees were motionless and the flags hung loosely. It was as if the winds were only gathering around us.  
Annabeth made a motion like she was shooting a gun, and I got the hint. She and I had played enough charades together, to almost be able to talk physically.  
I un-zipped my bag, a gust of wind tore it open further, one of my Converse and my bag of Sour Patch Kids came flying out, hurdling off the edge of the roof.  
"Come on, Really?" I yelled frustratedly at no one in particular.  
I quickly pulled out the laughable grappling hook and re-zipped my back pack.  
I aimed carefully, hopefully, Henry's shotgun lessons would come in handy.  
I aimed at the steel framework that topped the Needle.  
I pulled the trigger and with a click and a whir, the hook and cable shot out, catching on the metal.  
I began to walk up the roof, using the grappling hook cable as a rope to keep me steady. Annabeth kept close behind me, until we reached the concave portion of the roof. I looped the cable around my foot and shimmied up, using the stick gloves to get a hold at the top. From there I pulled Annabeth up.  
"Almost there," I groaned, with effort as I lifted her.  
I stepped up to the last level and quickly reset the grappling hook just in case and put it in my windbreaker pocket. All that was left of the ascent was the small metal tower, which would be easy enough to climb, but only one of us could do it. I wasn't big enough for two people to climb.  
We stood at the base, and then without questioning I stepped up, beginning the ascent.  
I heard Annabeth begin to protest, but this was my quest I'd already put her enough danger bringing her here with me.  
It was a short climb, to get to where I could see the staff, tucked in amongst all the other metal bars at the very top. I'd have to take off the little red light that capped the tower, and pull the staff out through there.  
The light came off easy enough, I just had to unscrew it.  
I held it in one hand, lacing that arm through the top bar to keep my hold on the tower, and with my free hand pulled the metal rod out of the tower. I carefully screwed the light back on and climbed down. The simple rod of metal hummed in my hand, I could feel the power in it although it looked like a simple steel pole. It was about five feet tall, just the right size to be used as a pole-staff.  
When I reached the base of the tower I turned to Annabeth and said, "Man, that was too easy," as I stroked the metal.  
"Your right," said a voice, but it wasn't Annabeth.  
Annabeth spun around, turning to stand next to me, pulling out her dagger.  
Standing on the edge of the second level of the roof was what look like a native Seattle punk rock chick.  
She slightly resembled Thalia, she was around twenty one, with multiple piercings; snakebites, nose, eyebrows, gauges, the full deal.  
He head was half-shaven on one side, and on the other side it was a long choppy blue that got lighter and lighter as it got longer, going from navy to ice blue.  
She wore a leather jacket with spiked shoulders, ripped grey jeans, multiple studded belts, chain necklaces and combat boots.  
She actually looked pretty cool.  
Except, you know, the whole I'm going to kill you ice blue death stare, which was even scarier because of her thick black eyeliner.  
"So this is what all the fuss is about," she cooed, "Just looks like a metal rod to me. Oh well, I guess I still have to kill you."  
Then she swished her hand and the wind grew stronger I gripped tightly to the tower.  
"Oh you're stubborn," she continued, with a smirk, "I guess I have to respect that."  
"Who are you?" I yelled.  
"Oreithyia," she replied, "Goddess of the mountain winds but I made special trip out here just for you."  
"Why do want to kill us?" I asked, my voice begin torn from my lips by the gale force gusts that pulled at me.  
"You stole my daughter's boyfriend," she replied, but she didn't actually seem mad, just like she needed an excuse to be here.  
"What? Who?" I asked, confused, last time I checked I hadn't taken anybody away from anybody.  
"My daughter is Khione, goddess of snow," she explained.  
"Well, you look good for a mother of your age," I had to admit, "She must have been hard to raise."  
"You don't even know, she so possessive," complained Oreithyia, "I actually don't blame you for taking her little fire boy. He didn't seem very happy anyways."  
"Oh Leo," I said, "Right, yeah, I didn't take him he escaped on his own. I'm actually dating a son of Hades."  
"Oh you made it official?" asked Annabeth from next to me.  
"Yeah," I replied, "More or less."  
"Oh, I see," said Oreithyia.  
"So are you gonna leave us alone?" I begged, scrambling to get a better grip on the small tower and still hold onto the staff.  
"Nah," said Oreithyia, "Might as well kill you, I know my husband likes you little demigods. I don't want him to think I'm his side."  
"What'd he do to you?" I asked.  
"I was a happy nymph once, living on my own perfect mountain and Boreas had to come scoop me up and take me as his wife," she explained bitterly, "Persephone said I'd learn to love him, but it's been 3000 years, and I still want to go home."  
"Why don't you just ask?" I offered, desperately clinging tighter and the winds stayed constant.  
"You know that's actually not a bad idea," she agreed.  
The gale around us died.  
I let go of my grip on the tower and sighed with relief.  
"But it would be easier if I just killed you," she said, "Plus I wouldn't have to deal with Khio, when I get home."  
With that she flicked her hand and Annabeth and I were flung over the edge of the Space Needle.  
I scrambled for some sort of grip on something but I was falling through midair, Annabeth right above me.  
I fumbled for anything that could possibly help us, in a few seconds she and I would make very nice demigod pancakes.  
Then I felt it, the launch able grappling hook was still in my pocket.  
In that second my adrenaline did not fail me, I turned in midair, pulled the trigger and shot at the Space Needle.  
The hook caught on a small metal bar only two hundred feet above the ground.  
The line snapped taught and as I swung I grabbed Annabeth, and we flew threw the air like Tarzan and Jane on a vine, expect with a lot more screaming.  
Both of our weight was relying on my right hand which clung tightly to the pistol size devices as we swung back and forth, about thirty feet in the air.  
Annabeth noticed me struggling and she quickly climbed up me, stepping on my shoulder and head, and began to shimmy up the cable, after a few minutes she was all the was at the top, she stepped out onto the metal framework of the main tower and pulled me up.  
Carefully we descended jumping down the last ten feet.  
No tourists seemed to notice us.  
We stood for a minute catching our breath, then looked at each other and fist bumped. The staff was still in my hand and I pretty sure I couldn't unlock my knuckles to let go of it.  
Within seconds Thalia raced out of the door and found us.  
"Oh my gods, are you guys all right? I saw you fall?" she asked.  
I gave her a thumbs up and a cough as a way of saying, "I'm fine, not a splatter mark on the pavement."  
"What happened?" she demanded.  
"I happened," replied Oreithyia, who was leaning against a pole, a few feet away.  
"You know," I said, between breaths, "You have a really bad habit of cutting in on others peoples conversations."  
She shrugged, "See I actually feel a little bad for tossing you over the edge, I mean you never really did anything to me personally, but I still have a bone to pick with you."  
"What do you want?" I asked.  
"A trade. Because your chill and you friend here has a great sense of style," she gestured to Thalia, "I'll let you go free if you give me the metal stick."  
"I'm sorry I can't do that," I replied.  
She shrugged nonchalantly, "Well if you don't have anything valuable to offer…"  
"How do three Imagine Drakons tickets sound? Front row seats," I offered, my voice coming back, beginning to sound more confident.  
Without hesitation she replied, "Deal."  
I nodded to Thalia, who reluctantly unzipped her bags and handed Oreithyia the tickets.  
Oreithyia, smirked one last time, and then there was a whirlwind and she was gone.  
"Ugh," said Annabeth.  
"Uuggghh," agreed Thalia.  
"Triple Ugh," I agreed.  
"I was looking forward to that," said Annabeth.  
"We all were," added Thalia.  
"Let's just go," I said.  
The sky flashed, and I braced myself.  
We I opened my eyes again we were back on Olympus.  
Like always there was someone waiting for us there, but this time it wasn't Zeus.


	9. Chapter 9

"Welcome ladies," cooed the tall woman, who sat in the throne next to Zeus' empty one.  
I felt Annabeth tense up from next to me.  
"Hera," she growled.  
The woman smiled down at her, with an expression that clearly said, "You better not talk out of term again, young lady, or I'll slap you with a yardstick."  
It reminded me of my fifth grade teacher.  
So she scared me a lot.  
Hera's hair was braided on top of her head, she wore a long cream traditional Greek dress, with golden jewelry and a matching crown that resembled a flower.  
"You father is not the only one whose symbol is the lotus," she said looking down at me.  
In her eyes I could see both admiration and hatred.  
She had not chosen me as one of her heroes, and did not want me infringing on the perfect group of seven she had created.  
"We finished your husband's little quest," I snarled.  
"Good to see you're sufficient at what you claim to do best," she replied with equal bitterness.  
I didn't reply, I had nothing to say to her.  
Annabeth quickly activated the pedestal, and I walked to the center of the room, placing the metal rod in a small hole, perfectly sized in the middle.  
The small marble column sunk back into the floor, disappearing with the two pieces of the staff.  
"Is there something you need us for?" I spat at Hera.  
"Not really, Zeus only wished that I show you where to go next, unfortunately he is indisposed a the moment and cannot do it himself," she said, curling her lip, at us, "But the other two must leave, this is only for the chosen one to see."  
Annabeth and Thalia obeyed, Thalia rolling her eyes as she turn and walked out of the Throne Room.  
"Chosen one," I mutter bitterly, "It's not like I'm Harry Potter or anything."  
Hera ignored me.  
She held her hand out flat, with her palm up.  
Mist curled off her fingers forming into a Mirage Mirror.  
The image was all too familiar, black palace with spires reaching up to the stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling.  
"Hades," I groaned.  
Hera glared at me with piercing eyes. They changed colors, fading from brown to gold, to green, then blue.  
The image shifted, hordes of monsters lumbered towards the castle. They moved in slow motion as if they were wading through molasses.  
Hera explained, "Many monsters, inspired by the recent acts of Styx, thought that perhaps they too could take the underworld for themselves. They have begun to march towards my brother's castle. In defense, Hades has put a spell over his kingdom that slows down time for any who are in the underworld. Only one has been able to leave and escape the spell, your friend Nico Di Angelo. His father revealed to him the secret of being immune to the lag in time. Have Nico guide you through the underworld and collect the next piece of the staff. But, only do this once you have been signaled that it is safe. At the moment there is no way for you to pass through the underworld without disrupting the time spell."  
"What will the signal be?" I asked.  
"You'll know it when you see it," said Hera, then with a swirl of golden light she disappeared.  
"Thanks for being specific," I yelled at the empty room and marched out, joining Annabeth and Thalia in the lobby.  
The stared at me expectantly.  
"Confidential," I sneered, mocking Hera.  
We all groaned dramatically and began the walk back to the elevator.  
We hailed a taxi dropped Thalia off at Central Park, apparently some of the Hunters were meeting there, and she was going to go rejoin them.  
Back at Camp Percy was waiting on top of Half Blood Hill pacing and looking worried.  
Apparently Annabeth had texted him last night, telling him where we'd gone.  
He looked so distressed walking back and forth on top of the hill, but when he saw us his face lit up.  
It was cute how excited he was to see her, but it made me a bit sad. Neither of them could leave camp with out the other fearing for their friend's life.  
Sometimes I feel like if Percy was in the same position as me last year, with the choice of giving up his immortal lineage, he'd do it gladly and take the weight off his shoulders.  
He hugged me warmly, and I buried my face in his shirt.  
Hugging him was like coming home after a long vacation, the familiarity like a kind welcome.  
Percy let go of me and went back to Annabeth wrapping his arm around her almost protectively.  
Neither of them ever wanting to let go of each other for fear that one might not return.  
I suddenly realized that I had someone like that too.  
I just didn't know where he was, and that began to worry me.  
I hadn't seen Nico in a while, he must have gone to Hades palace after we got back from Hawaii.  
I started off down the hill, but stopped when I felt a familiar chill from behind me. I turned to see Nico standing on top of the hill, grinning lopsidedly at me.  
"Miss me? He cooed.  
"You wish," I replied, but smiled in return.  
Although there was something so obviously broken about him, I felt no need to fix it. I didn't want to try erasing the bad parts of his past for fear it would erase all of it.  
He sauntered down to me, his hands in his huge aviator jacket pockets.  
We stood for a minute the light of the setting sun setting the rims of our figures alight.  
"Glad to see your back," he said.  
"You to," I replied.  
"Lets talk," he said, "Some where private."  
"Private? At Camp Half Blood? I'll give you twenty bucks if you can give me a place where the Stolls won't spy on us."  
"My cabin," he replied blatantly.  
The was a small silence for a second then I said, "My wallet's in my bag."  
We walked in silence to the ring of Cabins, where his place loomed like a three dimensional shadow.  
A few campers came up and greeting him and I, asking where we'd disappeared off to and such.  
We tried to tell them as much as we could.  
When we reached Nico's cabin he held open the door for me like a gentleman, much to my nervous blushing.  
I walked into the cold dark room and Nico followed me.  
He snapped his fingers and the torches on the walls lit up with Greek fires. The room flickered in an eerie green glow.  
"Sorry," said Nico, "I know the décor isn't really your style. Come to think of it, I'm not a fan of it myself anymore."  
"Perhaps I could help you redesign," I offered, "How to you feel about pink walls?"  
He laughed with me but only for a second. He eyes didn't meet mine. He stared down at the might stand running his fingers over some small little plastic cards.  
They looked like Pokemon cards, but instead of cute little furry creatures, there were hideous monsters and sneering gods.  
Why anyone would want to keep that next to their pillow, I don't know.  
I noticed the shadows under his eyes were darker.  
The last time I had seen him, they had almost faded completely, now he was worse that I had ever seen him.  
He was taller than I remember, now about two inches above me. This only added to the effect of his skeletal skinniness. He took off his jacket hanging it up on one of the spikes jutting out of the wall.  
He glanced at me, almost looking guilty, then sat down on his bed and sobbed.  
For a minute I stood there awkwardly.  
I didn't know what to do, I never had any galfriends that I could console when they went through a bad breakup.  
I had no idea how to stop people from crying.  
I walked over to him, kneeling at his feet.  
I grabbed his hands, curling his fingers into mine. They were so cold and lifeless, it scared me.  
I pressed them up against the side of my face letting the warmth of my cheeks heat up his icy skin.  
He didn't look at me instead he glued his eyes to the floor, and let the sobs rack his body.  
I brushed his hair out of his face, and said, "Stand up."  
He sniffled and obeyed.  
The second he got to his feet, I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close to me. I could feel his heart beat and his body shiver.  
He buried his face in my neck, his tears trickled down my shoulder.  
"Dude," I muttered.  
He chuckled at little, a sad desperate laugh.  
I could feel him try to restrain himself, trying to stop the crying.  
We stood in each others arms for a long while. Long enough for my legs to get sore. Which actually might not have been that long since I was really tired, but when your best friend is crying all over you, it feel like eons.  
"I'm worthless," he finally managed.  
At that I nearly broke, I began to laugh, really hard.  
Nico backed away looking like I had just stabbed his pet cat or something.  
"Why are you laughing at me?" he cried, his face was so heartbroken it physically hurt me.  
"Because that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. You are the most valuable person I know. To me at least," I said.  
Warmth came back to his face, but it was quickly washed away with doubt, "My father would disagree," he massaged his hands, "He says you feel nothing for me in return. That I am doomed to unrequited love and that my only purpose is to burden people."  
"Yeah well, that coming from the same guy who kidnapped a girl and made it be winter for like three years straight, so I wouldn't exactly trust his judgment."  
Nico's face lit up, transforming from what looked like sick rabid mutt on the streets, to happy little puppy.  
He giggled, his youth returning to him.  
"Touché," he said.  
Then he stepped forward and hugged me, and now that I think about it, I think this must have been his first time doing the hugging, instead of being hugged.  
I sighed and curled my fingers into the back of his shirt.  
"I love you, Lea," he said softly.  
"I know bro, I love you too," I sighed. The whole 'bro' thing probably ruining the moment but maybe that was better. I wasn't ready for a full on confession of love.  
He pulled away slightly, just so that he could look at me, whilst still keeping his hands on my ribs.  
"No go wash up, or something," I said, preventing the seemingly inevitable situation that came after this, "You look terrible."  
He grinned, and let go of me, walking into the small bathroom. I sat down on his bed, waiting.  
Next to me there was small back satin curtain on the wall, assuming there was window behind it, I pulled back the fabric.  
Pinned to the wall, obviously kept out of plain sight on purpose were a few pictures.  
One a selfie of Leo, that only showed a fraction of Leo's right eye, and behind him was the Seven and Nico standing on the Argo looking both happy and battered. Next to that was an old black and white photo of a family. It appeared to be very rich family, rich enough to wear fancy clothes and get a nice family photo taken. There was tall man with greasy black hair and a gaunt face, standing with his hand on a beautiful woman wearing pearls' shoulder. She too had black hair and so did the two children in the photo. One was young girl with long silky black hair standing at her father's feet. The other child which I instantly knew to be Nico, although he was barely recognizable, sat on his mother's lap. He must have been barely two years old. That meant this photo had to be over eighty years old. I wondered how it could have survived through the years.  
There were three more pictures, one of Hazel and Nico. Hazel smiled warmly with her arm around Nico and he looked wary and disapproving of the camera, which captured the image of his face.  
The last two I recognized, one of them was of myself and Nico sitting at my kitchen table eating donuts. My mother must have discreetly took it on her cell phone two years ago, just before he and I had left to go fight Nyx.  
Lastly there was a picture of Nico and I, my arm around him, my other hand making a peace symbol and me sticking my tongue out jokingly. He was looking at me with an expression that clearly said, "What an idiot."  
The picture was taken almost over a year ago, just after I made him get a haircut so that I could see his eyes (much to his disapproval and argument). It was about that time again. The only reason this photo existed is because the Aphrodite cabin was going through a hipster phase and was taking Polaroid pictures of all the campers.  
I think this is the only time I'll ever say this, but 'Thank the gods for the Aphrodite cabin and their phases."  
I stared at all of the photos for a few more minutes, then recovered them with the curtain just as Nico stepped back out into the room, flicking sink water at me with his fingertips.  
Then he sat down next to me, looking more like his normal self, bone-thin, tired looking, and weak, but that didn't worry me so much anymore, he was stronger than he looked.  
"Hera said you needed to talk to me," I began.  
His lips tightened at the mention of Hera, nobody liked her much, she was that one Aunt that you specifically didn't invite to Thanksgiving Dinner, because you knew she'd end up making everyone fight with one another.  
As I thought this I pictured an Olympian Thanksgiving, I shuddered, it wasn't a pretty thought.  
"Yes," said Nico softly, "I have news from my father."  
"I heard about the time spell," I told Nico, leaning back against the cool stone wall.  
Nico concentrated, "My father said that the time spell would slow down the oncoming monsters for at least a week, at most a month. You and I can slip through unaffected using the powers that my father gave to me, but we have to wait for the right time."  
"Why?" I asked, "why not now?"  
"I can create a small rift in the time spell, allowing you and I to pass through the underworld at our usual pace, but if we come within fifty feet of any monsters the rift will allow them regain normal speed and they will attack us."  
"So we need to wait until the monsters are all in a position where we can navigate through the underworld, but stay within of fifty foot range of all the monsters."  
"Yes," Agreed Nico, "also, if we do come in contact with any monsters, the rift touching them will cause the spell to reverse. It's not instantaneous, but if you break the spell over one creature the spell resets, like a ripple affect outward, getting faster as it goes."  
"So basically, we've got to get through the underworld, without coming near any monsters, that sounds easy enough," I said.  
I looked over at Nico awaiting the inevitable contradiction.  
"The forces marching towards my father's castle are so thick, that is unlikely that there will ever be an opening."  
"Of course," I muttered, "How will we know if there is an opening?"  
"My father said he'd send a signal, he never specified," replied Nico, retied the laces of his combat boots.  
I rolled my eyes, "Are the gods ever specific?"  
"Nope," chirped Nico quickly, then he stood up brushing off his jeans.  
"What time is it?" I asked looking around the room for a clock.  
"About five thirty," replied Nico.  
"Cool, Imma go get changed," I said gesturing to my Seattle adapted clothing, and then sauntered out the door, calling as I left, "See you at dinner."  
"Okay cool," he called after me, as I jogged through the grass over to my cabin.  
On my way to back to my cabin I felt a draw to the forest, something pulling me in. Maybe I should go check on Leo, it had been a while since he and I talked.  
I fell into temptation and jogged into the woods.  
Just like always to doors to the bunker were open and I walked in without hesitation.  
"Lea!" called down Leo from the catwalks above my head.  
"Hey man!" I replied not directed anywhere in particular because I couldn't see him.  
"I've got something for you!" he exclaimed repelling down from my left.  
"Really?" I asked trying to sound excited, instead of weirded-out, "More gifts?"  
He blushed a little, then tripped over a wrench on the ground and blushed more.  
"Yeah it's really nothing," he said, "I've been working on it for a while."  
He reached into his tool belt, rooting around as if to find it and then pulled out a small vial on a chain.  
He placed the pinky finger sized vial in my palm. I nearly dropped it I was so surprised, the glass was freezing.  
I looked at it, inside the glass vial there was a small jewel looking thing. There was bits of frost collected in the vial, obstructing my view.  
"What is it?" I asked.  
"Pure frost," replied Leo.  
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to examine it closer.  
"When Khione kidnapped me last year, she took me back to her palace, and when I dropped the chandelier of her this fragment of pure frost lodged itself into my tool belt. It's so powerful, anything that it touches freezes over. Which sucked, cause I could pull anything out of my tool belt till I microwave it for like twelve hours," explained Leo.  
"What is it with villains always having giant precariously hung chandeliers, do they not realize it's a safety hazard?" I said exasperated.  
Leo laughed rapidly, his cheeks scrunched up, his eyes getting lost in the wrinkles of his smile.  
I placed the chain around my neck with my other necklace, luckily this chain was longer so their wasn't any weird layering problems.  
In the distance I heard a familiar gong.  
"Oh sweet, dinner," I said hastily.  
"Yeah," he said, "Dinner. Righto."  
"See you later," I said.  
"Okay bye," he replied quickly.  
I left him standing there. I looked down at the vial around my neck.  
Honestly, what's up with guys and giving me jewelry?  
I shrugged it off and I walked back to my cabin.  
I kicked open the screen door and quickly pulled off my Seattle clothes, changing into a camp shirt and some ripped up jeans. I almost forgot my shoes on the way out, but when a larger splinter jabbed into my foot I realized my painful mistake. I pulled out on the splinter, with quite a bit of cursing, and pulled on my combat boots.  
I was met a the door by Maria, who tackled me with a hug and said, "Welcome back! Where'd you disappear to? Cloe, Ava and I were so worried?" then she lowered her voice, "Was it for, you know…the important mission?"  
I tried to subdue my smile, feeling a swelling feeling of warmth in my chest. I was so glad to have friends that noticed and cared when I was gone.  
"No, I was actually just picking daisies in a meadow in the forest with my unicorn friends, when I suddenly fell asleep to the song of the fairies and didn't wake up until now," I mused at her sarcastically.  
"Really?" She asked.  
"No," I replied, and then began to walk to the pavilion.  
"Errr," she began, "You missed an event yesterday, Spear Throwing, so you can't miss another event or else you'll be disqualified."  
"What?" I said surprised, "But I could've done okay in Spear Throwing."  
"Sorry," she said twisted her dark brunette braid.  
As she twirled her hair, the tip of her braid, the part she was touching changed colors.  
Being a child of Hecate, she was great with illusion spells, but sometimes she didn't realize what she was doing.  
I stared at her hair, a raised my eyebrows pointedly when she glanced at me.  
She immediately let go of her braid.  
"You could do some pretty cool stuff, with that, you know," I told her.  
"Yeah, I guess," she agreed hesitantly, "Do you miss your powers?"  
I sighed, "In a way yes, they were really nice when it came to fighting and quest stuff, but they were worth giving up for sure. It's nice to be able to fly under the radar."  
"Yeah, but you used to be able to put people to sleep with a glance! Don't you miss it?" she asked.  
"Can we get off the subject?" I asked, feeling more and more like I a part of me was missing the more she talked.  
"Oh right, sorry," she said and looked at the ground.  
At this time we had made it to the pavilion, pretty much everyone was already there talking and sitting on the tables.  
The Stoll brothers were using rubber bands to launch bits of brisket at the Ares cabin.  
I sat down next to Nico and the Minor table, Maria went over and sat down with her Hecate brothers and sisters. Dinner went by uneventfully, it was good to have camp food again, it reminded me of all the times I had eaten here before, making me feel safe and at home.  
As we all finished our meals, Chiron stamped his hoof, the echo clattered off the marble, resonating through the pavilion. Silence fell.  
Chiron cleared his throat to hush the final voices, "As you all know the First Annual Camp-Half Blood Olympics are halfway over. As you know the prize is three months excused from chores, and golden laurels presents by Lord Apollo himself. Now, we have determined what the final event will be," he paused for dramatic effect, "Capture the Flag."  
The pavilion exploded with excited noise. Everybody loves Capture the Flag.  
I whooped and hollered with everyone else.  
I was glad to stand a chance.  
Chiron held up his hands, asking for silence, "However, there are still three qualifying events, Chariot Racing, Wrestling and Archery. Chariot racing will take place next week and those from minor cabins are allowed to pair up."  
I punched Nico and the shoulder and when he made eye contact with me, we both nodded in silent agreement of partnership.  
"When we have finished all three of the qualifying events, the two highest scoring cabins will move on for the final event. The two cabins will face off for the prize, the final event, however, will not take place at Camp Half-Blood."  
Murmers broke out, many people said "What?" and the overall feeling of confusion was almost tangible.  
"The Final Event," announced Chiron, "Will take place at Disneyland, in California. Courtesy of Apollo."  
I was deafened by the eruption of noise that broke out at that point. I don't know what I expected, when you offer a large group of teenagers a trip to the happiest place on earth, the reaction you get in destined to be huge.  
People laughed and fangirled together, the excitement almost tangible. Campers began to file out, chattering happily with one another, until just Nico and I were left.  
"Campfire?" he asked.  
"Nah," I replied, "I already have a headache from all the noise."  
He grinned lopsidedly, "Yeah, me too."  
"Should be fun though," I said lying back on top of the table, so that I could look up at the stars, "Going to Disneyland together."  
"Yeah," said Nico lying next to me on the cool marble, "Wonder how they're going to pull it off. I mean getting all of us there safely."  
"Hmm, I wouldn't have thought it possible, getting that many demigods out of camp without monsters breathing down our necks," I agreed.  
"I'm sure Chiron knows what he's doing, he wouldn't put any of us into danger," said Nico, but he still sounded unsure.  
He and spent the rest of the night chatting mindlessly, staring up at the stars.  
It was probably midnight by the time we said goodnight. For some reason whenever I was with him time seemed to move faster, slipping away from me.  
The next morning, when I woke up, I was jarred out of my sleep by the clanging of metal. I stomped outside groggily, still in my pajamas to find multiple cabins dragging scraps of metal around, all getting a head start on their chariot.  
Without bothering to change I ambled over to Nico's cabin, shouldering open the door.  
He was just pulling on his aviator's jacket as I walked in.  
He jumped, startled by my sudden appearance.  
"Sorry, should have knocked," I said with a yawn.  
"It's cool," he said, "Ready to get to work?"  
"No," I replied, "Food first, I don't know about you, but my brain needs some sort of nourishment in order to function.  
"I'll meet you there," he replied pulling on hit combat boots.  
I walked up tot the pavilion where met Ava and Jake, who looked slightly miffed.  
As I dumped half of the brown sugar on my oatmeal I asked, "Sup guys?"  
Jake scowled at his spoon, "Lance took over the Chariot Project. He's not letting Ava or I help him, he says that we're traitors."  
"Why would he say that?" I asked.  
"Cause we're friends with you?" replied Ava, tucking the loose strands of her dark auburn hair behind her ear as she dug her fork into a crack in the marble table.  
"Sounds like he's just upset that I beat him at sword fighting," I replied, shoveling the oatmeal into my mouth.  
"Well duh," replied Ava, breaking the metal fork in half effortlessly, which kind of frightened me, "You wounded his pride."  
"You know what?" said Jake angrily, "I might as well be a traitor, I don't want to be in the Hephaestus cabin if he's leading it."  
"Yeah," agreed Ava, "Lea, do you want us to help you make a chariot."  
"Y-yes," I said astounded, "That would be awesome."  
Ava pulled a small sketch book out of one of the punches on her tool belt, and began to hastily sketch out a design.  
Every few seconds she'd ask me a question like, "You're with Nico right?"  
"Mhmm," I replied trying to sneak a peek.  
You want stabilizers, right?"  
"Err…yes?" I replied, "I think so."  
"Yes you do," she answered for me.  
Jake would add in some technical input every once in a while.  
I just sat across the table and watched as they designed to chariot for me.  
"What metal should we use?" asked Ava.  
"I can get some of the underworld's finest iron," offered Nico as he walked up and sat down next to me.  
Ava's eyes widened with excitement, "Perfect. Nobody else will use iron."  
"If they did, that would be ironic," I said, and then chuckled at my own joke, "Get it? You know dramatic irony?"  
The others just looked at me both confused and embarrassed for me.  
"Haha, yeeaahh," I said quietly.  
Then Ava sighed happily and turned the sketchbook o show me the sketch.  
A lot of it I couldn't understand, technical terms and such. But I could tell that they're were strap in foothold, like those on snowboards, to prevent our feet from sliding around and a crossbow mounted on the front.  
"Cool," I said, "Cool, cool, cool."  
Then I grabbed the pencil off the table and quickly added in something, "Just needs something to show who it belongs to."  
I sketched in a quick lotus on the front.  
"Perfect," said Ava, "The iron to represent Nico and the lotus for you."  
"What about you guys?" I asked, "You should get some credit."  
"This isn't our chariot, we were never here," she said grinning mischievously, "No one will no about this."  
And then she hid behind a pillar, imitating a spy, and then walked away continuing to talk to Jake about the design.  
Over then next week, she and Jake directed the skeletons that Nico summoned to do the dirty work, and by the Friday beforehand, it was complete.  
I felt a little bad since I do much to make it. But I'm pretty sure if I tried to help I'd end up breaking it somehow.  
It was gorgeous, a deep obsidian black, with veins of pink stone curling across the surface, the same type that made my necklace. There was a huge control panel, that I left Nico in charge of, and a bunch of hidden weapons. My favorites were these little magnets that could be launched at the wheels, which would attach to the metal and then secrete this acid that ate through any material. It was pretty awesome.  
Nico and I did a few practice rounds, him controlling the skeletal horses that dragged us effortlessly around the track, and myself in charge of all the weapons. I got pretty handy with the magnet launching crossbow, and was excited to try it out on some real chariots. We could make it around the track in four minutes, even when dodging obstacles and being attacked by they automaton dragonflies Jake and Ava set on us. We were ready for the race on Sunday.  
On Friday night, Nico and I stayed late at the track postponing dinner to get some extra rides in.  
Now that I was accustomed to the rush and rockiness of the chariot, I didn't mind it much. I still didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either. Plus I think the years of getting used to being thrown off buildings and the stabilizers helped.  
It grew dark as Nico and I skidded around the track.  
On our third lap, as I was aiming for a target in the distance I spotted something in the forest. A light.  
As we drew closer, more lights appeared, a trail of them.  
"Nico!" I exclaimed points at the dim yellow glowing balls, "Look!"  
As we drew towards the turn in the track, we got close enough for me to see what was holding up the lights.  
They were women, around the age of twenty, ghostly pale, with long dark hair and white dresses, walking in line into the forest. Each of them held a lantern.  
"Lampades!" Exclaimed Nico.  
"What?" I yelled, trying to hear over the wind in my ears.  
"Lampades," repeated Nico, "torch-bearing nymphs from the underworld/"  
'Uh, okay," I said.  
"That's it! That's our sign!" shouted Nico, "It's time for us to enter the underworld!"  
We overshot the turn in th track and began riding onto the rough forest floor.  
"But I'm not wearing my armor!" I argued, "I'm not ready!"  
"Oh come on!" said Nico, "You don't need armor."  
"Ye-es-esss, I do!" I yelled to him, my eyes wide, hands clenched to the crossbow and my words getting shredded by the bumpiness of the ride.  
I was about ready to bail, my nerves welling up in my throat. I felt like I was going to vomit, but maybe that was from the insistent churning of the content of my stomach. Just as I was reaching down to unlatch my feet prepping for a roll out. A wall of black stone jutted up from the ground in front of us, a hairline crack jutted up the middle and then widened into a small archway into darkness.  
The lamp carrying women entered and Nico and I rocketed in after them, into the underworld.  
Oozing into a world of slow motion.


	10. Chapter 10

10- We Enter a World of Literal Slow-Motion  
Everything around us was moving at half the normal speed. Even the chariot; which floated almost weightlessly in the time-suspended air. Apparently only Nico and I were the only things unaffected by the time spell. Us and our clothing that is. Funny how like in movies the clothes also magically are immune too.  
I screamed for a few minutes, until I realized we weren't really moving, and I just looked absurd.  
The cave wall closed behind us, Nico and I looked at each other. While I was panicking he looked like a kid in a candy store. He was home, back in the underworld and he had me with him.  
"Let's go," he said, jumping down from the five feet still in midair chariot.  
I jumped down after him, little bits of dust curled of the ground where I landed, spiraling up in slow motion. It looked kind of awesome.  
Nico grabbed my hand and pulled me after him.  
"We're just on the edge of the Fields of Asphodel, We just have to go through and then behind the judgment pavilion. This will be easy," he said, his voice way to joyful to be normal.  
"When is anything ever easy?" I asked as he dragged me a long.  
He didn't respond, instead he just led the way as we weaved in-between jagged spike of black stone.  
I sighed and followed him.  
I felt way too vulnerable without my armor but at least I had my sword and shield.  
Nico clearly knew his way around whereas I was lost in the sea of darkness.  
We rounded a corner and were exposed into the open.  
From this point I could see the entirety of the underworld, in the distance I could see the outline of Hades palace, miles away.  
"I though you said it wasn't far," I protested.  
"Close enough," he said.  
I groaned dramatically but was cut off when I caught sight of something about halfway there.  
A dim glow of fire surrounding hundreds of monsters. Giants, Harpies, the Furies, Cyclopes, Keres, Dracaena, Kobaloi, Empousai and some things I've never even seen before.  
I gulped helplessly.  
Nico stared in awe at the army with me.  
"Your dad is screwed," I stated dumbly.  
"So are we," said Nico, then he pointed just left of the main crowd, "They're so spread out, there is no way we can get past with at least fifty feet gap."  
I looked closer, he was right. Though there was a more condensed group in the middle, the monsters were just spread out enough that there was no gap that Nico and I could get through.  
"We'll figure it out once we get there," I said, trying to sound confident. I began to finish out decent down the steep slope of the cave wall.  
"No wait," said Nico, grabbing my arm, "over there."  
He pointed at the farthest right hand side of the army.  
"If we climb those cliffs there is a small pass along the cave wall, that we can use to bypass the monsters, going over head of them," he explained, hope rushing back into his voice.  
"Cliff climbing. Great," I muttered sarcastically.  
Nico grabbed my hand and we began the walk down the hillside together.  
He and I walked together for at least and hour.  
We crossed the Fields of Asphodel easily, the grass waved slowly around us and the shades moved in slow-motion as we walked by. It was so eerily silent, just the sound of Nico and I's breathing could be heard and a dull humming in the background.  
I wished we could stop and rest, maybe get a drink of water or something, but unfortunately we had little time and no water.  
"We're coming up on the Fields of Punishment," said Nico.  
"Mmm, my favorite place," I chided, my sarcasm was growing stronger with every step I took.  
Eventually the Fields of Punishment came into sight, except it wasn't really a field at all. It was just scattered volcanic rock, with geysers of lava and the stench of burning flesh. Well I guessed that what it smelled like, I'd never smelt burnt flesh before, but that's how I'd imagine it would smell.  
I gripped Nico's hand a little tighter.  
From what I could tell bad eighties music was playing loudly, just as Percy had foretold me, but it was slowed down dramatically, so it just sounded like a bunch of deep voiced demons trying to sing opera.  
There were shades scattered among the volcanic rocks, doing various terrible things. One was attempting calculus without a calculator; another was washing thousands of dishes in the lava, and many other terrible things. I cringed as I watched them perform their tasks in slow motion. I ripped my stare away from the poor souls and looked straight ahead, focusing on my destination.  
Nico and I walked quickly over the volcanic rock, trying to pass this area as quickly as possible.  
Our feet skidded over the rough volcanic pebbles and sweat began to drip from my brow, it was unbearable hot down here with all the lava. The only thing that kept me slightly cool was the veil of bottle frost around my neck. It kept my collarbones cool but the rest of me was on fire. I felt like going for a swim.  
As soon as I thought that, a river came into sight.  
I nearly ran and dove in, but I felt Nico tense up and we both stopped.  
"Crap," he cursed under his breath, "I forgot."  
"Forgot about what?" I asked, curiously.  
"That's the River Lethe," he said, "I came here before with Percy and Thalia, Percy was able to bend the water so that none of us touched it. Except the titan we were fighting."  
A flashback slammed into my conscious, the titan from last year sitting upon his throne, the one mad from mud and litter.  
My stomach curled at the thought, I knew that one drop of this water would wipe my memory clean.  
I clung to Nico, as we approached it slowly.  
It churned with a dull roar the grey water swirling at half the normal pace of water.  
"What do we do?" I asked looking at Nico helplessly.  
"I-I don't know," he said, "There is no bridge to cross it."  
He glanced down at my neck his brow furrowing a little, "What's that?"  
I felt at my neckline, my fingers curling around the cool vial of ice.  
My eyes widened with realization.  
"We don't need a bridge," I exclaimed, "We can make one!"  
"What?" asked Nico shocked and confused.  
I pulled the necklace off over my head, the little ice blue vial glimmered in the dim light.  
"Pure frost," I explained, "Leo gave it to me!"  
"Leo?" asked Nico, his voice lilting up weirdly at the end of the name.  
I didn't bother going into that conversation.  
I walked up to the river bank, and carefully unhinged the vial.  
As soon as I did frost began to crawl down the glass, creeping towards my fingers. I panicked a little and hastily tossed the vial into the river.  
At first nothing happened then there was an eruption of white about halfway across the river. Swirls of ice blue, tumbled and expanded over the surface of the water in slow motion. There was the crack and crinkling sound of ice forming and within minutes a bridge of thick ice had formed over the river.  
I grabbed Nico's hand and dragged him across the ice, we slipped and skidded across easily, quickly overcoming our first obstacle.  
"Good thing Leo likes you so much," muttered Nico bitterly.  
I punched him on the shoulder and said, "Shut up, jealousy does not look good on you."  
Then I continued to drag him towards the cave wall.  
We arrived at the small pathway up the cave side within the hour.  
There was a small pathway, about a foot wide meandering up the side of the cave wall. After a few yards, more tall shards of obsidian make a wall about five feet high parallel to the cave edge. The pathway cut through the thin crevice gradually growing steeper.  
I went ahead of Nico walking up the slick pathway, bracing my hands on the walls, letting them serve as railings of sorts.  
The hike was long and boring, we stopped every few minutes to catch our breath.  
Near the end of the path about a hundred yards from the palace, just where the path starts to slope down, the stone spikes disappear. We were about ninety feet about the cave floor and below me I can see a collection of monsters, walking below. It was mostly Cyclops and few keres, nothing too scary, plus they were out of range to be any danger to Nico and I.  
I looked at Nico, he gave me a nod, and we advanced forward beginning the descent.  
We continued on in silence for a long while.  
"Wait," Nico stated abruptly, stirring me from my daze, "Rockslide," he said, cautiously.  
I turned to see what he was talking about, but I did this too quickly, my converse slid on the slick rock and I lost my footing.  
The pathway was just thin enough that my foot slid over the edge and I lost my balance. For a second I tried to grasp for the cave wall, but it was too late. I tumbled down the cave wall. The slope was steep, almost a cliff. I skidded and rolled down the side the sharp rocks cutting into my exposed arms, ripping through my flesh.  
I screamed as I fell not only scared of the pain of the fall, the separation from Nico but I could feel myself drawing scarily close to the monsters and I couldn't find a way to get traction to slow myself down.  
That when I hit it, I felt a wave a of warm air cushion me, like hitting memory foam and then passing through it. The time barrier hit me and then washed over the entire underworld in a quick wave. Time jumped back to normal speed for everything.  
I skidded to stop, lying on my back cut and bleeding at the base of the cave wall. I groaned in pain, clutching my elbows, which felt like they been through a cheese grater.  
Over the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears a roar cut through the silence.  
"Demigod!" yelled a deep voice and in return multiple screeches and battle cries broke out.  
Thundering foot steps shook the ground.  
I jumped to my feet, well, not really jumped more like a drunken stagger to a half-standing position.  
I gripped at my right arm which had a deep gash in it and looked up.  
Every set of eyes was on me, hundreds of monsters were running towards me.  
There was a moment that felt like an electric shock through my body, my whole brain screaming and then I took off.  
I sprinted towards the palace.  
I cursed repeatedly under my breath, I couldn't outrun all of these monsters, not with a good two hundred feet left to go.  
"Lea!" I heard someone yell from next to me.  
It was Nico, I glanced at him and then kept running.  
I knew he would help me, but there was no time for damsel in distress 'Oh thank you, my savior' greetings.  
"Keep going," he yelled to me.  
"I wasn't planning on stopping for tea!" I yelled back to him.  
I heard him laugh and then there was a sound like the earth breaking open and I looked back to see.  
As a matter of fact, the earth was breaking open.  
A jagged crevice was cutting its was through the ground, Nico at the base of it.  
Monsters tumbled into the pit of despair only to end up who knows where.  
I laughed triumphantly and yelled back to Nico as I continued to run, "I knew there was a reason I agreed to date you!"  
He chuckled and then used his powers to send a large chunk of rock to erupt from the earth socking a Hyperborean giant in the jaw.  
In the distance more monsters roared and shrieked angrily trying to find a way across the crevice that block there path to us.  
We were safe for now, safe enough.  
I was getting out of breath, with still a hundred feet left to go.  
My pace slowed and I fought as my body began to shiver, dying for more oxygen that my gasps could not deliver quick enough.  
Suddenly, something grabbed my legs and then my back and I was lifted.  
Nico held me, bridal style in his arms as he ran towards the palace.  
I protested loudly, hitting him on the chest, "No, stop it! Put me down! Screw you! I can run fine on my own!"  
He grinned down at me, "Are you sure?'  
I groaned loudly and admitted, "No."  
Then I continued to pout until we reached the palace wall.  
I he gave me a boost and then I pulled him up and he jumped down and fell down after him.  
We jogged together and he led me into the palace the second we entered the corridor we were met by Hades who quickly stated, "Follow me."  
He strutted down the hallway into the familiar foyer where I had come last year, The portal through which Nico and I had gone through to Olympus last year was already open.  
I looked around the room, staring at the stain glass windows of each of Hades family members.  
There was new one above all the other showing a dark arena and a figure with pink and brown hair holding a golden sword and shield above her was a glowing ball of pink light.  
I immediately recognized it as myself and was about to ask, when Hades cut me off.  
He shoved a spiky object into my hand and said "Go quickly."  
"Dad I'm stay here to help you," said Nico.  
"No, go with your friend," said Hades harshly, staring at Nico with eyes a dark as the obsidian stone that had cut me.  
"She'll do fine on her own," argued Nico, then he grabbed me pulling me into a tight hug.  
I tried to argue with him, he couldn't leave me. Not again.  
But before I could tell him that he shoved me through the portal.  
I screamed and landed heavily on the marble floor of Olympus, the spiky object still clutched in my hands.  
I looked at it closer.  
It was crown, of sorts, it looked like it was sized for a doll.  
The base was no bigger than the palm of my hand.  
It was made from spiked stygian iron curling into itself like vines of metal intertwined into crown, with chunks of precious stone caught in-between some of the metal tendrils.  
"Nico," I muttered, quietly.  
"Your friend will be alright," said someone, "I have sent reinforcements to help him and his father."  
Zeus looked down at me with pity, from his throne.  
"That doesn't sound like you," I spat at him, "Aren't you usually the type to sit safely up here on Olympus and watch your brothers fight their battles alone."  
"This is all of ours war," said Zeus, his voice trying to be emotionless but I could hear a twinge of grief breaking through.  
I frowned at him, I was fed up with being put through this emotional and physical torture at the gods expense.  
"I'm sorry for doing this to you," said Zeus, "I really am."  
He snapped his fingers and all of my cuts sealed themselves healing instantly. I sighed with relief.  
"Congratulations," continued Zeus, "On collecting the third piece of the staff."  
From behind me I heard rushed footsteps, I turned to see Annabeth jog into the room.  
"I got here as quickly as I could," she said, running up to me kneeling on the floor next to me, "Lea, are you alright?"  
"Just dandy," I said, letting her help me to my feet, although I was healed I was still very tired.  
We walked to the center of the room and she opened the Safe of the Gods, the podium rose from the floor and I carefully set the crown on top and watched as the marble column sunk back into the floor.  
Zeus cleared his throat, glaring at Annabeth.  
"I'll be outside," she said.  
As soon as she left a new mirage mirror flickered to life in front of Zeus.  
It showed San Francisco, zooming in on Mount Tamalpais.


	11. Chapter 11

11- I Play Oracle Yahtzee  
"Mount Othrys," stated Zeus, "Home of the Titans."  
"What do the titans have? Did they steal a part of the staff?" I asked.  
"No," replied Zeus, gruffly, "They made it. The Titan Orb."  
The mirage flickered to show a milky white orb sitting on a black podium.  
"It is the fourth and final component of the Celestial Staff, explained Zeus, "It is also the most difficult to retrieve."  
"Most difficult?" I exclaimed, "Do you have any idea what I just went through."  
Zeus shifted uncomfortably in his throne.  
"There will be countless monsters there guarding it and titans too," said Zeus stiffly, "Choose the right time and the right team to go."  
"Alright," I said, "Percy and Nico, just like always."  
"Unfortunately," chimed Zeus, "Taking more than one demigod will undoubtedly alert the enemy of your presence."  
I sat there in stunned silence, I could only choose one demigod.  
Well then it would have to be Nico.  
"And a child of the big three is out of the question," added Zeus.  
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I yelled and then marched out of the room.  
Obviously Zeus didn't have much more to say cause he let me go without another word.  
I met Annabeth in the lobby, she followed me as I strutted by.  
"Why are you even here?" I snapped, then soften my voice apologetically, "Sorry, not that I don't want you do be here."  
"I'm the only one who can open the safe," she explained, "Maximum safety, and only Zeus, Hera, Thalia, you and I know about it."  
"Okay, so I should probably keep it a secret?" I said.  
"Unless you want the staff pieces in the hands of the titans," replied Annabeth.  
"Got it," I chirped as we began the long descent in the elevator.  
She and I drove to camp together chatting about Percy and how he was doing, and how Nico had abandoned me.  
I understood why, I would have done the same thing. If my father and his realm were in trouble I would help him before going home, even if that meant leaving a friend alone. You have to sort out your priorities when your going to war.  
I still didn't like leaving him there. We arrived back at Camp around midnight. Annabeth and I both went straight to our cabins to get some sleep without even saying goodnight.  
I slept restlessly, tossing and turning worrying about Nico and the Underworld.  
Mostly Nico.  
As soon as the sun rose, so did I.  
I didn't feel all that tired but I knew I should be.  
First thing I went to see Jake and Ava, since Nico and I had left the chariot in the Underworld I knew there was no way of getting it back, and with a chariot the games today were out of the question.  
I walked idly to the Hephaestus cabin, which was already whirring with life. I doubt most of those guys ever slept, they lived off coffee and ambrosia according to Ava.  
I walked up the steps cautious for any booby-traps and knocked on the large metal door.  
The door swung open, revealing a tall, handsome and absolutely naseuasting person.  
Lance Beckett glared dawn at me, he smirked and yelled back into the cabin, "Jake that girl you've got the hots for is here!"  
Jake stumbled to the doorway seconds later, "Hey Lea," he stuttered, color rushing to his cheeks.  
"Morning," I said smiling at him, then I glared pointedly at Lance, and he sauntered back into the cabin.  
"Where's Ava?" I asked, peering into the practically empty cabin.  
"She's putting the finishing touches on the chariot," replied Jake grinning.  
"The Chariot?" I asked confused, "But Nico and I left it in the Underworld."  
"Yeah, Ava and I figured you two would find a way to destroy it or lose it somehow, so we built a second one just in case," he explained.  
I stood for a minute, trying to look angry, then I hugged him.  
"Screw you guys," I said, trying to contain my grin, "Why did you think I'd lose it?"  
Jake raised his eyebrows.  
I punched him on the shoulder and then we began the walk to the Track.  
Other Cabins were already there doing final revisions on their chariots.  
A lot of them looks pretty cool, Ares of course was crudely made with red paint splattered on it, Apollo's glowed golden and the Hephaestus cabin's was gorgeous, made from multiple types of metal, with rocket launchers on the back.  
I observed for a while, the games didn't start until after breakfast, but people were already beginning to fill the stands, with bowls of cereal in their hands.  
I watched as an Aphrodite girl braided one of her horses mane and then I realized, without Nico I wouldn't have any skeletal horses to pull the Chariot, heck I didn't even have someone to drive it.  
I ran to the stables, darting into the warm barn that smelled of damp hay and well…horse.  
Someone else was already in there.  
"One minute, I'm still trying to calm down Jackie. She's nervous, the others were talking trash to her last night," said Percy, stroking the forehead of a black mare."  
"Percy?" I sputtered, "What are you doing here?"  
"Annabeth told me last night that you might need a new partner, now I can't promise I'll be any good but…" he said then I cut him of with a tackle hug.  
"I have the best friends!" I exclaimed.  
"Yeah, you do!" he agreed, "Now lets go get some breakfast and then go win a Chariot Race!"  
He and I walked to the dining pavilion together, sitting down to eat our frosted flakes in content silence until he asked me, "What happened last night?"  
I summarized Nico and I's adventure in the Underworld and Percy nodded understandingly.  
"I get why he stayed there," said Percy.  
"Yeah me too," I agreed, "But I wish he didn't. Is that selfish of me?"  
"A little," admitted Percy, "But your only human."  
"I wasn't always," I muttered to myself and then finished off the last of my cereal.  
"Meet you at the track," offered Percy, and he and I fist-bumped for good luck.  
He arrived at the track about five minutes after me, leading two horses with him, Jackie and a chestnut stallion who he called Gerard.  
Within minutes the horses were hitched up and ready to go.  
I quickly ran back to my cabin changing into some jeggings, combat boots, a camp shirt, and leather biker gloves to help me keep my grip.  
I pulled my hair up hastily and sprinted back to find Chiron in mid-speech. He went over the rules, "No killing or maiming," and the other basics.  
Then all the Chariots lined up, there were about twenty-five teams of two. In the stands I could see Cloe holding up a sign that said, "GO LEA!"  
I grinned and gave her a thumbs up.  
There was a few minutes of stressful silence after Chiron finished his speech and then he blew the conch.  
Percy whipped the reigns, and I sprung to action, I shot a acid magnet at he Hermes cabin's wheels and got a direct hit. I shot two more at the Hephaestus Cabin, but missed both times. I dodged the javelin that a Ares kid through at my head, it whizzed over me but connected with the Hecate chariot on my left, knocking out the driver, the chariot spun out of the track, taking to other minor cabins with it.  
"Get rid of the Ares kids!" yelled Percy and he dodged another javelin.  
I launched a magnet and it hit the Ares chariot on the left wheel and the acid ate through the wheel within seconds. The chariot clunked to a stop, leaving the Ares kids to curse at Percy and I's dust,. He and I laughed triumphantly.  
Only Hephaestus, Athena, Apollo and Nike was left. All of them ahead of Percy and I.  
The Nike cabin through a gold laurel boomerang at the Apollo cabin which collided with the drivers helmet knocking him out. The two golden stallions pulling the chariot reared up and stopped in their tracks. This caused the Athena cabin, who was directly behind Apollo's, to rear end the golden chariot ahead of them, causing both chariots to crumple on impact.  
"Being directly behind the chariot probably wasn't the wisest choice of the Athena cabin," I said as Percy and I rode past.  
Percy snickered and then said, "Now just to take out the next two."  
The Hephaestus chariot was yards in front, the rocket launchers and automaton horses giving them extra speed. The Nike cabin, was attempting to take out Lance and his goony with the laurel boomerang, but they couldn't throw that far. The Nike cabin was so focused of Hephaestus they didn't even notice Percy and I catching up.  
I launched our last three acid magnets at the Nike cabin, they were perfect hits, and as the decaying wheels began to drag in the dirt, Percy and I jetted by.  
He and I weren't fast enough though, just at we passed the Nike cabin Lance was crossing the finish line. He held his hands up in the air victoriously waving at the crowd, lathering himself in the applause. His brother, who had a bloody nose, didn't look too happy.  
Lance winked at me as Percy and I rode into second place.  
The Nike chariot dragged in a few minutes later, the two girls in it, glaring at us.  
Children of the Goddess of Victory were very sore losers.  
Percy and I jumped down from our chariot and he grinned at me, in turn causing me to smile with him. He raised his fist to the sky and the crowd roared with applause.  
Lance, Lance's brother, the Nike girls and I all met Chiron at the podium.  
"Here we have our Chariot Racing finalists!" Announced Chiron, "The Hephaestus Cabin, the Morpheus and Poseidon Cabins, and the Nike Cabin!"  
"Nice job," cooed Lance, down to me, from his position on the first place stadium, "For a girl."  
"You didn't do so bad yourself," I sneered, "For a sexist pig."  
His eyes widened in shock then he squinted in rage, he surely about to say something foul when Chiron continued speaking, "As you all know, next week we will be headed to Disneyland! Make Sure to pack your bags appropriately. Remember, NO FIREWORKS," he glared pointedly at the Stoll brothers, "this last event leaves us with five finalists to compete at the Finals; Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo, Nike and Morpheus. Good luck to them."  
The crowd whooped and hollered, rushing out to meet there cabin-mates out on the track.  
There was a lot of cleanup to be done. Percy took Jackie and Gerard back to the stable and Jake and Ava took the Chariot back to there cabin leaving me to stand alone.  
Henry came over and congratulated me, patting me on the back and saying, "Nice job Lea, I can't wait till you bring that gaudy Hephaestus kid down to size next week," then he winked and left to go get lunch.  
I went back to my cabin changed out of my sweaty clothes and then went and ate lunch with Percy and Annabeth. After lunch Percy and I went for a swim in the lake while Annabeth taught the Tyche cabin battle strategies. The afternoon faded away quickly and soon the sun was setting.  
After having a quick splash war with Percy, which I of course lost (never challenge the son of Poseidon to a splash war) I headed back to my cabin to get out of my sopping clothes.  
All of my things, my armor, clothes, shield were all there, just like they should be but something felt off about the room. The cabin glowed with an eerie pink light, a light all too familiar to me.  
Sitting on my bed were the Oracle Dice, radiating the magical pink light that used to glow from my hands.  
I scooped them up, letting the warmth spread to my palms.  
I took a deep breath, scared for what they may show of my future and let them drop to the floor.  
The landed softly, but the sounded seemed to echo as the plastic clacked against the wood of my floor, it landed with two ones facing up.  
A mirage mirror shimmered to life in front of my face, it showed Mount Tam, just like the mirror on Olympus had, the it zoomed in all of the way into the temple on the very peak, showing what I knew to be three Titans.  
The one who was speaking I recognize, it was Menoetius, the titan I locked up down in the Underworld last year.  
He was speaking with two others a male and female.  
The woman was beautiful, with dark thick hair and Mongoloid features, she wore a dress of deep scarlet that made her white skin seem to glow. The man was very strange looking, he wore a white toga, his hair and eyes were white to, and then glowed brightly, his skin looked like the night sky, dark blue and speckled with stars like freckles.  
"Astraeus," said Menoetius to the starry man, "You must go East to wake the others."  
"But- " objected Astraeus, "What if somebody attacks here."  
"Yes," agreed the woman with a voice like silk, "It is unwise to leave this place so unprotected. Especially with me leaving to find the rest of our children."  
"No!" shouted Menoetius, "You will follow your orders! I will stay here! No one will get past me!"  
"But what of the mortal girl?" asked the woman, "The one who will surely come to take the orb."  
"Bah! She fears being alone, she will come with her friends and I will sense them before they even get close!," argued Menoetius.  
"But she defeated your son- " objected the woman, "An you before, she can surely do it again!"  
"Clymene!" warned Astraeus "Do not upset him."  
Clymene pursed her lips, "Very well, while Astraeus and I finish gathering the troops you will watch the orb. Do not dare let anyone slip past you!"  
Then she and the starry titan disappeared in a whirl of white light.  
The mirage faded.  
But the pink light in my cabin did not.  
The dice still layed on my floor, pulsing with energy.  
I picked them up and let them roll again.  
They both landed on six.  
My distant future sprung to life on a new mirror in front of me.  
This vision was much less complicated.  
I saw myself.  
I was falling from the Empire State Building.


	12. Chapter 12

12- Henry Takes me on a High-Speed Horse Ride  
As I much as I don't want to admit it; at that moment I panicked.  
I mean when you watch your inevitable fall to death, no normal person takes it lightly.  
I sat down on the lower bunk clinging to the sheets, my knuckles locking.  
For what felt like hours I sat on my bed staring at the wall, the image of myself falling replayed over and over in my head. There was this look in my eyes, a look of desperation, like I knew that there was nothing there to catch me.  
Then I did the only thing I knew to do; find someone to talk to.  
I sprung from my bed, launching out of my door and speed-walked to Percy's cabin. I was intercept by Piper, who after taking one look at me, wrapped me in a tight hug.  
"Where's Percy?" I asked her.  
"Heading to Olympus," she explained, "I'm on my way there now, all of The Seven were summoned there."  
"Oh," I sighed feeling even worse. My brain, being so wrapped up in my own problems, didn't even take note of the fact that the seven most important demigods of the age were being called to arms.  
"He'll be back soon," she said looking into my eyes compassionately into my eyes as I avoided hers. Tears were starting to form getting caught on my eyelashes.  
I wasn't so much sad as I was scared and frustrated. I was sick of the emotional torture the gods had been putting me through for the past three years.  
"I have to go," said Piper squeezing my shoulders with her hands, "You'll be alright, sweetie, I'm sure of it."  
Then she walked off in the direction of Half-Blood Hill, looking back at me remorsefully.  
I still needed to talk to someone, and with Nico and Percy gone there was only one person left to talk to.  
I jogged to the big house trying cover my face with my hands casually so that the other campers wouldn't see the tears streaming down my face.  
I burst through the screen door of the Big House, I nearly ran straight into Chiron. He was in the living room, chatting causally with the leopard head on the mantle. The leopard snarled as I entered the room.  
Chiron turned, and upon seeing me, he face grew softer, "Sit child," he said gesturing to the couch.  
I flopped down on the leather couch sniffling.  
I had a quick flashback of when I had sat here with Nico and Percy when I had only just met them.  
I chuckled lightly in recollection, wiping my eyes.  
Chiron handed me a glass of water and then called into the other room, "Henry, there is someone here to see you."  
From the room next door, my step-father sauntered into the room looking perfectly normal and content but upon seeing me his face fell. He strode up next to me and sat down on the coffee table in front of me, taking my hands in his.  
Chiron left the room, letting us sit in silence.  
"Dad," I sniffled, "I think I'm going to die."  
"Well generally that is what happens," he said, trying to joke around, "that's kinda how things work for us mortals."  
"No, I think I'm going to die soon," I added.  
"Why would you say that?" He asked looking deep into my eyes, concerned.  
"The oracle dice…" I began.  
"Darn it!" he cursed to himself, "I always was a sucky gift giver. Remember that one Christmas I got you that evil hamster."  
I laughed, he always knew how to cheer me up.  
"You know what?" he said, "I think it's time we took a break. Get away from all of this."  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
"Pack your bags, Lea," he said, "I think its time we go home."  
"Like to California?" I asked.  
"Yeah," he agreed, "Just to get away from this messy godly business. Cool off for a day or two."  
"Than can we go to San Francisco?" I asked.  
"San Fran? Why?" he questioned, confused.  
"You know how I said I was on a quest again?" I prompted.  
"Yeah," he confirmed cautiously.  
"Well, that's the other thing the dice showed me, tomorrow would be like a perfect time to go steal from the Titans," I explained, "Except I have no idea how were going to get all the way across the country in one day."  
"I think I have an idea," said Henry, looking distant with thought, "Go get your things and meet me at the Pine Tree."  
I stood up, hugged him and raced out the door.  
My tears were dry by now, but my face still felt hot as I ran to my cabin, hastily stuffing my clothes into a duffel bag.  
With my bag over my shoulder I raced outside to find Henry standing on top of Half Blood Hill, with a shining white horse with golden hooves.  
As I walked up the horse snorted and unfolded its huge white wings.  
"A Pegasus?" I asked, "Sorry Henry but these guys aren't exactly the most efficient form of air-fare."  
"Not just any pegasus," said Henry proudly, "The Pegasus."  
I remember back when I had just been claimed when Henry had landed at the Campfire the same winged horse at this side. He had arrived from all of the way across the country in an hour, yet I hadn't paid any mind at all.  
"Dude!" I exclaimed.  
"I know right," he agreed book of us staring admiration at the beautiful creature, "I called your mom to let her know we'd be home in time for dinner."  
"Tacos?" I asked.  
"Tacos," he affirmed.  
My mom always made tacos when I was upset, it's not like they were anything magnificent, but it was a good normal thing to come home to.  
Henry boosted me up onto Pegasus' back and then climbed up behind me.  
Pegasus was larger that your normal horse, not big enough for you to notice on first glance but when you really looked at him, you could see he obviously was built for a more bulky rider. Henry and I, both being thin and lanky fit onto Pegasus' comfortably.  
"Hold on tight," said Henry and with that Pegasus launched into the sky.  
If you've ever been windsailing or sky diving you'd know the feeling of the wind pushing back the skin on your face, and you'd probably say it was pretty extreme.  
I can tell you right now this was way more extreme.  
By the time I pulled my bangs out of my mouth, we were already sailing over the Washington monument.  
"How?" I yelled to Henry, "Shouldn't our faces be ripping off by now?"  
"Magic," he said shrugging, "I don't know. I've just gotten to a point in my life where I just stop questioning good things."  
"Good point," I agreed, "Why are we veering so far south?"  
"A lot of Venti up north they are quit volatile," explained Henry, "They don't like tourists… or pegasi."  
"Venti," I cursed under my breath, a bit of unresolved rage bubbled in my chest, they had broken my sword last year.  
For the next hour Henry and I flew in silence in no time we had crossed over the Mississippi River and then the Grand Canyon.  
By the time we arrived back home, in California, it was dark out.  
I ran across the lawn, and met my mother at the porch.  
She hugged me tightly kissing my forehead.  
"Hungry?" she asked.  
"No," I admitted, "But I'm still going to eat a ton."  
She laughed lightly, and then walked up to Henry kissing him tenderly.  
Pegasus flew off without saying goodbye, I began to think that I really need a horse variant for transportation. Nico had the skeletons, Percy had Blackjack, Henry had Pegasus, I felt like I was missing out on the latest trend.  
My mother ushered me inside and I ran upstairs quickly changing into the fuzzy pink bathrobe I had so dearly missed during my time spent at camp.  
I didn't think I would ever use it there, not wanting to be caught wearing it, but I seriously missed the puffy plush fabric that I wrapped around me.  
I stomped back down stairs met by the intoxication aroma of heavily spiced beef.  
That night I ate at least four tacos, I finally felt like a normal teenager again.  
Just a normal girl eating Mexican with her slightly dysfunctional family, talking about how George Clooney could play pretty much any roll and still be handsome.  
Just a normal girl who saved the world at least twice, going on three times, who still had to do the dishes.  
My mother wouldn't take, "But if I hadn't saved the world these dishes wouldn't even exist any more," as a valid excuse.  
We watched a cute animated film about little forest people who ride birds after dinner. We feasted on ice cream straight from the carton and got a little weird out because the main character looked way too much like me. It was freaky.  
I went to bed at nine and it was only then that the morning's events caught up to me.  
I laid on my bed, staring up at my ceiling, having your typical teenage crisis, oh you know; a boy likes me and I don't know how to react, I'm not as popular as I want to be in school and I'm fated to fall off a skyscraper and die soon.  
My mother came in to say goodnight, but upon seeing me stopped looking worried and said.  
"So how is it that you going to die?" she asked.  
I groaned.  
"I'm your mother, I have the right to know," she prompted.  
"I'm going to fall, or maybe even get pushed off the Empire State building," I said.  
"Well, normally I would say stay away from the Empire State building but I think we've both seen enough movies to know that doesn't work," she sighed, "Prophecies always end up happening somehow."  
I grabbed a pillow and held it tight over my face, groaning even louder into the down softness.  
"Did you actually see yourself dead?" asked my Mother.  
"No," I said through the pillow.  
"Well then you might not actually die," she exclaimed happily, "Look at this optimistically."  
"I might not actually die, just have near death falling experience?" I asked taking the pillow off my face.  
She poked my thigh, "Yeah, that's the spirit! Knowing you you'll probably just break a few bones, get a concussion and punch the doctor who tells you that you need to be in a wheelchair, again."  
I laughed in recollection, "Yeah, Dr. Naffeke really needed a doctor after that punch."  
My mother laughed heartily and then squeezed my hand, "You'll find a way to make it through. You always do."  
"But what if I don't?" I asked as she stood up and began to walk out the door.  
"I'll make sure to tell your funeral director that you like, excuse me, liked Orchids and Lilies best," she said jokingly.  
She took all of this so light, I didn't really worry about it anymore.  
Instead I curled up in my sheets and drifted off to sleep.  
Dreams twisted there way into my subconscious.  
First I saw Nico, in the Underworld, he looked fatigued and his nose was bleeding, but otherwise he looked unharmed.  
He closed his eyes and the ground in front of him split open, I could see there was still around two hundred monsters left, only two of them tumbled in the pit, the others anticipated his move and stopped at the chasms edge.  
Nico took a swig of what I recognized to be ambrosia and then yelled behind him, "Father they aren't falling for it anymore."  
Hades, who was standing hunched over behind Nico, looked like an old beggar, he was practically deteriorating.  
To be simple, Hades looked like crap.  
Percy had told me that Gods loose power when there realms are in danger. Also that they reflect the state of there kingdoms in there appearance.  
Hades was in bad shape- so was the underworld.  
Thousands of chasms, presumably made by Nico, broke through the ground.  
"What do we do?" pleaded Nico desperately, tears streaming down his face, he looked weak and panicked.  
I wanted so bad to help him but I knew there was nothing I could do and he had no idea I could see him.  
Just as hope seemed lost a blinding white light and a crack of thunder crashed through the cavern.  
"Zeus," sighed Hades, his eyes filling with a strange happiness.  
The dream swirled and turned into something else; Olympus.  
The Seven; Jason, Leo , Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Hazel and Frank all stood in front of the Olympians, (all except Hades).  
"Although the threat in the Underworld has been at the moment absolved," stated Zeus, "We are far from safe."  
"Why can't the Titans just stay asleep," muttered Leo to himself, "I know if I got the chance I'd want to sleep for a thousand years."  
"Why, indeed," said Zeus, "The Titans have all woken from there sleep and now are gathering their children, the Demi-Titans, who have been in hiding. From what we have gathered it is rumored that there are hundreds of these half titan children, who have power equal to that of a minor god. We are working to find a solution but we fear that the Titans may launch an attack any day now. We are trying our best to keep spirits high and our children hopeful by giving them the Demigod Games at Camp Half Blood, but we ask that you stay here to protect Olympus in case of a surprise attack."  
The Seven nodded.  
"We have hope that Olympus will persevere, but if the attacks remain as constant as they are now, within months, Olympus will succumb and crumble," said Zeus.  
"Lea," muttered Annabeth sadly.  
"Yes," agreed Zeus, "Our only hope lies in the hands of the Dream Keeper."  
I awoke with a start, morning light blaring through the window.  
I didn't let my mind dwell on the dreams I had.  
I took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and did my normal morning routine, prepping for the ride to San Francisco, as my parents bustled around as if nothing was wrong.  
I threw my bags into the trunk of the Prius mentally going over the checklist of things I'd need.  
Armor- check. Sword- check. Shield-check. Henry-check.  
I stuffed my fear down my throat and back into my chest, telling myself that well it didn't really matter if I failed cause I was probably going to die anyways and I wouldn't die in San Francisco, at least I'd make it back to New York.  
I slammed the trunk of the black Prius shut and was about to get in the passenger seat nest to Henry, when my mother walked through the front door.  
Oh right, I had forgotten to say goodbye.  
Except my mom didn't exactly look like she was prepped for goodbyes.  
Instead she had her duffel bag in one hand and a crossbow in the other.  
"What are you doing?" I asked, extremely confused.  
"I'm coming with you," she said.


	13. Chapter 13

13- We Kill the Demons in the Mirrors  
The car ride was long and boring, I cleaned my sword in the backseat as we listen to Beatles songs and my parents discussed the recent economy downturn. Henry had quit his job at the publishing firm to work at camp with me, but my mom stayed back in California with her real-estate job. Usually this job wouldn't have been enough to support the entire family, but with Henry and I living at Camp half of the year, we got by easily.  
My nuclear family was so uncomplicated, despite the fact that my step-father and I were related somehow. Everything went smoothly in the household; it was so different than being up on Olympus where the gods were constantly arguing. It was nice to have peaceful diplomatic discussions without people throwing fireballs, lightning bolts, etc. at each other and bringing up fights from three thousand years ago.  
We drove through the Caldecott tunnel and I felt the deep need to go see Reyna, bring her as reinforcement, but I knew she'd bring the whole Camp with her and the Titans would sense us before we even got close.  
We entered San Francisco peacefully; no evil seagulls or rage crazed hobos attacked us. I remembered Percy telling me about the last time he had visited here, the evil Santa, Bessie, and Ladon up in the Garden of the Hesperides.  
Henry parked the car in a small lot next to Pier 39, and we spent the afternoon enjoying the afternoon on the pier.  
We watched Sea Lions, I kept an eye out for Nereus, just in case.  
We figured we might as well enjoy our time while we were here.  
We went to an arcade and shot down some digital zombies and then browsed through some of the cute little gift shops. I found a pink t-shirt that said, "I Survived San Francisco" on it, and Henry bought it for me hoping it would bring good luck.  
I knocked on wood hoping we weren't jinxing ourselves by purchasing it.  
We were.  
I changed into the shirt and out of my camp one.  
I felt like for some reason wearing the camp shirt was a bad idea, Titans may be just looking for neon orange in the crowd and shooting down whoever wears it.  
For a while I just stood and watched the sea, looking out at Alcatraz.  
I thought of Percy and the stories he had told me.  
I missed him even though it had only been a day, I wanted him to be here with me.  
He knew the lay of the land better than I did.  
Also I just really wanted to have a friend with me.  
After a few hours my mother said, "I'm going to go to the restroom and then we can get some lunch. I'll meet you guys at the clam chowder place."  
I nodded as she reached into her purse digging around for a second.  
"Oh and I brought this," she added, handing me a groupon, "Bought it a while back and now is the perfect time to use it."  
It was half off to two tickets for a mirror maze, which should be on the upper level of the pier.  
"Cool, thanks mom," I said, and Henry and I set off to go find the maze.  
After a few minutes of looking at maps, going the wrong direction, and and asking around we finally found it.  
There was a small doorway and a counter with a register we payed for two people handing him the groupon and then entered.  
It was mega trippy inside.  
There was corridor after corridor of mirrors twisting and turning. I can't really tell you what the structure was because all I could see was a series of reflections. Loud dubstep blared over unseen speakers and neon laser of green and red light darted around bouncing everywhere. Sometimes I would straight into solid glass, thinking there was no mirror there. The only way to tell whether there was a mirror in front of you or not was to see if there was a direct reflection of yourself but sometimes my brain out-edited that bit. So, I could only be sure where the corridor continued by slowly feeling my way along.  
I lost Henry after a few turns and shortly afterwards got lost myself.  
I had just rammed into my own reflection when things got bad.  
A shrill shriek echoed through the maze, I tried to run back the way I came to find the source but ended up running into another mirror with a loud crack.  
I fell back onto my butt and sat for a minute looking at the shattered glass in front of me.  
"Well I'm not paying for that," I muttered.  
I stood up slowly, my head throbbing in pain, my vision going in and out of being blurry. The thousands of mes shining back at me did not help with the vision problem. I clutched my head and stumbled forward looking for Henry.  
"Dad?" I called.  
"Lea?" I heard him yell back, "Was that you who screamed?"  
"No, dad," I replied, "I'm fine."  
I looked around desperately for him but only say myself staring back.  
Then there was a loud crash behind me, and in front of me and on both sides.  
Sound traveled weirdly in this place.  
I pulled out my weapons disk and activated my sword.  
I looked in the mirror in front of me and saw something approaching fast.  
It looked like a flesh colored bat with a vaguely humanoid face.  
It hissed and flung itself I turned and slashed expecting myself to cut right through it since I figured it was directly behind me. But instead I only skimmed the creatures flank as it darted past me.  
It quickly reeled around charging in my direction.  
I recognized it a Fury, one of the cursed bat ladies that were always betraying Hades.  
"I smell demigod!" is hissed at me, "Child of Apollo."  
I ran, sword in one hand, the hand directly in front of my so that I wouldn't run into any more walls.  
Instead I ran into a dead end, I was stuck in between two mirrors that met at a right angle.  
I muttered a curse to myself and then I turned my sword in front of me.  
The Fury rounded the corner.  
"Wait," she said, "You're that wretched Primumcruor girl!"  
"That's me!" I agreed as I swung forward, cutting her directly in half.  
I took a deep breath and then said to myself, "Why doesn't Hades just keep her locked up? I mean seriously."  
Then I remembered what she had said about a 'child of Apollo'.  
"Henry!" I yelled.  
"What's going on?" he yelled.  
"There was a Fury," I called back to him.  
"Just one? That's weird they usually attack three at a tAAGGGHH!"  
There was a loud crashing sound and I heard Henry fall to the ground with a grunt, followed by some inhuman hissing.  
I was about to go looking for him when I encountered a problem of my own, a third Fury crashed into sight.  
She rammed into a mirror shattering it and then came straight for me.  
Except that was her bad decision, she went STRAIGHT for me.  
I watched in terror and amusement as she came straight at me.  
She made the same mistake as I did, she believed what her eyes showed her.  
She smashed face first into a mirror down the hall from me. She had been looking at my reflection and not me.  
The glass shattered around her and she sat in a confused daze for a second. I took this second as my chance.  
I felt to my left, finding a new corridor and sprinted down it, following it with my hand.  
I kept a close eye on the corridor behind me but kept my hand in fron of me so I wouldn't run into any mirrors like the Fury had.  
Instead I ran into Henry.  
He in hand-to-claw combat.  
I nearly crashed into him.  
I was going to shout some specific duo battle move but I didn't know any and at the moment my brain wasn't exactly functioning properly so all that came out of my mouth was, "BLARAGGH!"  
Henry somehow understood whatever it was that I had just said because he jumped out of the way and I baseball slid by him, doing a full back-arc of my sword cutting his Fury in half.  
He in-turn spun on his heel and shot an arrow straight at the last Furies head.  
We both took a minute to catch out breath. We stood in the maze, which could hardly be called a mirror maze anymore, more like broken glass maze, because we had destroyed about half of the mirrors.  
Henry and I exchanged glances then he said, "We were never here."  
After taking the next ten minutes to find our way out we came back to the doorway with the cashier and the girl at the counter.  
She had passed out, she must have seen the Furies screamed and then fainted.  
We sighed making sure the cashier girl was okay, she didn't appear to be harmed.  
Then we left going to find my mom who had no idea what had just happened to us.  
Nobody saw us exit the destroyed mirror maze but we still got some concerned looks from passersby as I pulled shards of glass out of my palms, clenching my teeth.  
"I wonder what the Furies were doing here," said Henry, looking warily up at the sky.  
"They probably were hanging out up at Mount Tam, when they smelled demigod they came down here to check it out," I reasoned, then I squeaked in pain as I removed the last shard from my right hand.  
"Seems as if I need to get some new deodorant," said Henry.  
"You know that's not how it works, dad," I said.  
"I meant Medea Smell Block- Demigod Deodorant," he explained, "It's very useful but hard to find, especially since her main department store was destroyed."  
"Hmmph," I said, with a small amount of admiration.  
Something in the back of my head was like, 'You should get some for yourself.' Then I realized I wasn't a demigod anymore, so I didn't have to worry about my smell.  
Henry and I lumber down the stairs and shoved through the crowd to get to the bread shop where we had promised my mom we would meet her.  
My mother stood with a tray of three clam chowder bread bowls on a tray.  
She saw us, and her eyes widened, we had shards of glass lodged into our skin and were bleeding, but not badly hurt.  
"I missed something, didn't I?" she said rushing towards.  
We cleaned up in the bathroom and then enjoyed our lunch of slightly cold soup in peace. Well, aside from a ravenous pigeon but that's pretty normal in San Fran.  
We discussed what was coming next as I gobbled down my sourdough bowl.  
"We've got to be careful about Ladon," I said, "Percy said he has hundreds of heads and a poisonous bite."  
I saw my mother tense, the dark circles under her yes seemed more pronounced, her eyes widening.  
I could tell she was trying to be strong for me, but she was a working class American citizen not some Greek warrior. Not like me.  
I took her hand in mine and gave her a hopeful smile.  
"Remember that time there was a rattlesnake in our backyard and I was about tot get bit and you just picked it up and threw it over the fence," I said "This isn't so different from that. It's the same type of courage."  
"I only did that because you were in danger," she said, blushing slightly, but laughing too.  
"Well, this isn't exactly safe for me now either, but I'll be fine. I'm a big girl," I told her encouragingly.  
Silently I hoped to myself that all would go well.  
We left the pier around one in the afternoon.  
I took a look at Mount Tam in the distance, the constant cloud of mist swirling around it looked ominous and foreboding.  
I gulped nervously, staring at where the sky met the earth.  
I could feel something bad coming.


	14. Chapter 14

14- Chinese New Year Comes Early  
We loaded into the car, as we drove I watched Mount Tam in the distance, there were no obvious hordes of monsters running in our direction no magic missiles being launched at us. It was almost unsettling how quiet it was.  
I stuck my head out of the car window as we drove up the Mountain side, riding a sparkly black Prius into battle with my parents. This was something I should do more often.  
The afternoon air was rich with the familiar scent of Eucalyptus; I had been to San Francisco many times, various field trips to the museums.  
I never knew then danger that lay across the bay, but I guess now it made sense why I was attacked by a snake-demon in the King Tut exhibit in sixth grade.  
We pulled over at a lookout, and began to gear up for battle.  
I activated my armor and tucked by weapons disk into my back pocket.  
After slinging on a messenger bag, re-tying my combat boots and pulling on my leather fingerless gloves, I was ready.  
I squinted up at the Mountain, at first it just looked like a regular lookout at the peak, but the image flickered to the black marble fortress from my dream. I tried to focus through the mist but it was over whelmingly strong.  
I was having trouble seeing through it and I was trained to, I wondered how my mom would survive. It would such if we were fighting Ladon and all she saw was a very angry willow tree swaying in the breeze.  
I looked over at my mom and almost fell off my seat.  
She was wearing a leather jacket, combat boots, jeans, biker gloves and aviator glasses, wielding a crossbow.  
My jaw dropped open, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail she looked like some intense Angelina Jolie action movie character.  
"Holy Hephaestus mom! You look awesome," I exclaimed.  
"Thanks sweetie," she said grinning.  
It was weird seeing my mom in such a casual outfit; she usually wore business suits with pencils skirts and heeled shoes.  
Henry took a look at her and a smile spread across his face, "You look beautiful, Noel."  
"Where'd you get those glasses?" I asked, in awes at the shining gold rimmed aviators.  
"They were gift from you real father, Morpheus, "They allow me to see through the mist," she said proudly.  
"I gotta get me some of those," I said, seriously admiring the rockin shades.  
We marched up the hill, the scenery faded from Eucalyptus trees and brush into rich flowers and trees. Everything became soft a green and moisture filled the air. Even though we were gaining altitude I could breathe easily in the oxygen rich environment. Everything cast shadows like it was late in the day, the flowers glowed dimly and everything had a strange golden aura to it, like it was being struck with the last light of day. As if the garden was in some eternal twilight, even though in reality it was mid-day.  
"It lovely up here," I admitted looking back out over the bay, "I'm gonna have to say that the Titans have got a better view that the gods."  
"They sure do," agreed Henry, taking a second to look over the bay with me.  
Our break was interrupted suddenly when a voice said, "You shouldn't have come."  
A girl with obsidian black eyes came out from the shrubbery, glaring at us.  
"Can we cut the ominous warnings short? Please?" I asked, "I get enough of those already."  
She looked taken aback, wounded even.  
"I am one of the Hesperides," she stated, "One of the dwellers of this garden."  
"That's nice," I replied, "I'm Lea. These are my parents."  
"You brought your parents on a quest?" she asked, looking seriously confused.  
Apparently I was the first demigod to do this.  
"Is she evil?" whispered my mom.  
"Yeah, sort of," I whispered back to her.  
Before I could even react, my mother shot a bolt from her crossbow, it went straight into the nymphs stomach.  
The nymph screamed in pain and rage, "Did you just shoot me?"  
"Did you just shoot her?" I repeated in exclamation, shocked at my mom's rash action.  
"You said she was evil!" explained my mom quickly, "Aren't I supposed to shoot evil things."  
"I said she was sort of evil!" I replied, exasperated.  
"Sort of it enough for me," replied my mom, "I'm not taking any chances."  
I looked at Henry desperate; he just shrugged as if to say, 'It's her decision whether or not she wants to kill garden nymphs.'  
The Hesperid clutched her stomach and then with one last hateful glance she disappeared back into the garden.  
"Oh gods, what have you done mom?" I asked, throwing my hands up in exasperation.  
"Sorry! I don't know how this whole good versus bad thing works!" she admitted.  
"Whatever," I said, "Let's just hope she doesn't call for reinforcements."  
Seconds later a roar tore through the air, the definitive sound of a dragon who had just been woken from his afternoon nap.  
"Spoke too soon," I said, pulling out my sword and shield.  
"Lea," said Henry, his tone urgent, "Go get the orb, Noel and I will stay here and distract Ladon."  
"But-" I protested, but when Henry gave me that 'NOW' look, I could argue.  
I sprinted up the hill, toward the fortress the clouds swirling angrily above me, where atlas held up the earth. I veered as far right as I could without exiting the garden.  
I reached the temple without being interrupted or detected by Ladon, unfortunately, there was someone waiting for me up there; Menoetius.  
He was wearing heavy bronze armor, and he wielded a giant bronze shield.  
"Demigod!" he yelled with a mixture of excitement and rage.  
"Big dumb guy!" I yelled in return.  
The excitement left his face, the rage taking over.  
He charged down the hill at me, his shield protected the entirety of his body minus his head, and I did something so cliché I doubted it would work.  
I played chicken with him, standing my ground, seeing who would move of the others way first.  
The minute he was feet away I sprung into action, his shield was tilted perfectly at a slope, I ran up it like a ramp stepping off his shoulder jumping over him.  
From there I continued running, glancing back to see him trying to come to a stop so that he could turn and chase me, but he had too much momentum.  
He skidded down the steep hill trying desperately to slow himself down.  
Luckily, gravity was working with me today; his heavy armor practically dragged him down the mountain side.  
I knew I didn't have long until he finally slowed down and began to run back up the hill.  
I continued into the fortress, it was a simple black temple, much like the Parthenon, but more square.  
Hermes had said this place faded away after Jason toppled the throne, but with the Stirring still on the rise, the building reformed quickly.  
I skidded into the marble room; sitting on the marble pedestal sat the orb.  
"Wow," I sighed happily, "Why do they think it's a good idea to leave it out in the open?"  
I snatched it off the podium holding it tightly in both of my hands.  
Suddenly, my body tensed up; every muscle going rigid.  
It was a feeling I recognized, I was no longer in control.  
The last time this happened was in the arena with Styx.  
I could see a dim white glow around my vision, it reminded me of the pink I used to see when using my powers.  
I could tell my eyes were glowing full white right now.  
I was possessed.  
Involuntarily my grip snapped open and I watched as the orb fell to the floor.  
It shattered on contact thousands of tiny white shards spraying over the black marble.  
My heart dropped with surprise and defeat.  
The orb was completely broken.  
I almost began to cry with frustration, of course, nothing in my life could be this easy.  
The white light faded, and a chillingly voice echoed through the hall, "Be careful of traps."  
I quickly dropped to floor scooping the pieces of white stone into my hands and then shoveling them into my messenger bag.  
I got out of there before I could be possessed again.  
I took off running back down the hill, I passed Menoetius on the way, he was panting in attempt to lug his way up the mountainside.  
"See ya!" I called as I darted by.  
"Oh come on," he yelled turning once again in pursuit of me.  
I launched through the garden, eventually coming upon the tree infamous for its produce.  
Golden apples gleamed as they hung from the limbs; I reached up and snatched one as I went.  
I entered the clearing where my parents were fighting Ladon.  
I gulped, Ladon was certainly the most terrifying dragon I've ever seen and I've fought Python himself.  
Ladon had shining copper scales and hundreds of heads; he looked like a tangle of rattlesnakes combined into one creature.  
Most of its head lay limps on the ground, with arrows or crossbow bolts through them, but he still had about twenty functioning heads, and my mother was about of bolts.  
She and Henry dodged the heads frantically as Henry shot arrows at the writhing creature.  
As I ran up to them I yelled, "Car, now!"  
They both turned as sprinted down the hill back to our Prius. I took at second waving the golden apple in front of Ladon's face, directing his attention to me. I darted to the right, splitting off in the opposite direction my parents.  
Ladon lumbered after me as I disappeared into the forest. The second I was out of Ladon's direct view I cut to the left, in the direction of the car.  
Henry already had in running with my door open by the time I arrived.  
I dived into the backseat at he stomped on the gas pedal, we sped off as quickly as an eco-car could go.  
Ladon stayed in pursuit, about a hundred yards behind, dragging his inanimate heads behind him like a copper hula skirt.  
We raced down the side of the mountain in our Prius the dragon not far behind.  
In no time we had reached the Golden Gate Bridge.  
"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods," I repeated as Ladon began to gain on us as we entered traffic.  
Henry cursed in both Greek and English, "Screw it!" he muttered.  
He didn't slow down instead he swerved in and out of the cars in front of us.  
This was the most illegal thing I had ever seen my father do and it was awesome.  
Cars honked at us angrily as we passed them switching between lanes.  
Soon cops would be chasing us too.  
We were about halfway across the bridge when Ladon arrived.  
Ladon ran along the roadway, placing his feet in the empty bike likes, he had no interest in killing anyone one but us.  
The bridge shook as Ladon thundered behind us.  
I prayed that this thing was built to support the weight of hundreds of cars and a vicious dragon. We screeched into the city, Ladon following us through the city buildings.  
"I think we should split up!" I yelled over the rumbling of the dragon crashing through the streets behind us.  
Henry was about to argue when my mom and I both looked at each other, and nodded.  
Henry sighed in agreement, "Three, two, one!" He slammed the brake and we screeched to a stop.  
I dove out of the car splitting off to the right my mother going left and Henry continuing forward.  
I held the golden apple over the head as I ran, acting as a shining lure for Ladon. It worked.  
Ladon swerved onto California Street not but a hundred feet behind me. I twisted and turned onto every street trying to throw him off my trail. Even though he rammed into some building corners he still managed to keep behind me.  
Pedestrians screamed as the ground shook beneath Ladon's feet.  
"Earthquake!" some of them shouted as they stayed oblivious to the large copper dragon running past them.  
In the late afternoon light the street glowed in twilight.  
Just as I was about to get bitten by one of Ladon's head and turned onto a familiar street, one that I had visited back in Middle School.  
I was in China Town.  
I sprinted down the street.  
Ladon was catching up to me; he was now yards behind but gaining fast as I lost energy.  
The street vendors watched in awe as I ran past.  
Then something very strange happened they began to whoop and holler excitedly.  
"Parade!" yelled one of them.  
I glanced behind me and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ladon how the mortals did.  
He was large puppet, like the one used in traditional Dragon Dances in the Chinese New Year parades.  
Mortals flooded out onto the street some watching, other joining with me, dancing, skipping and running beside me.  
This apparently confused Ladon; I guessed he was used to being so avidly celebrated.  
I continued running down the street the people playing festive music as I went. Firecrackers began to go off and it gave me an idea.  
I put my last bit of energy to get some space between Ladon and I and then I scooped up a freshly lit five foot string of fire crackers and hurled them like a baseball pitcher at Ladon.  
Luckily at that moment he was launching one of his heads to bite me, the fire crackers flew straight into his open mouth and his swallowed them instinctively.  
There was moment of the stunned silence as I waited for them to go off.  
Then there was a dull crack-crack-crack and Ladon exploded into a thousand pieces. It rained copper confetti.  
The people loved it, they danced in the confetti, unannounced to them it was actually raining dragon pieces.  
I stopped and sat down on the sidewalk, watching the children play happily.  
They must have thought that Chinese New Year had come six months late.  
I remembered what today was, June 18th, three days before the Summer Solstice and five days until my sixteenth birthday.  
It was only now, the with adrenaline dying I remembered what had happened to the orb.  
I peered into my messenger bag, the white shards reflected back up to me.  
I held back tears, I wouldn't tell my parents what had happened to it. I'd deal with fixing it when I got back to Olympus.  
There was no use worrying about it now.  
After a few minutes a black Prius pulled up in front of me and Henry rolled down the window, "You okay kid?"  
"Wonderful," I panted, "How'd you find me?"  
"Just followed the chaos," he said laughing.  
He and my mother pulled over and got out the car. They both hugged me tightly.  
"Your right," said my mom softly, "You are a big girl," a tear of pride streamed down her cheek.  
I squeezed her even tighter.  
After that we went and got some Chinese food for dinner.  
We were walked down one of the beaches when I finally figured out where to go next.  
I used my mother's cell phone to call Annabeth and tell her to watch for a Pegasus coming to Mount Olympus.  
Then I gave my messenger bag, with the orb fragments inside to Henry, "Give this to Annabeth, she'll know what to do wit it."  
He nodded and cab whistled to the sky.  
Within second Pegasus landed on the sand, and Henry gave me kiss on the forehead and said goodbye to my mother, "Take her to Disneyland, I'll meet you guys there," and he kissed her warmly.  
Then he climbed up on Pegasus' back and flew off, back to New York.  
"So," sighed my mom, looking absolutely exhausted, "Disneyland?"  
"Yeah, "I agreed, "I've got a tournament to win."


End file.
